


There's No Camembert in Tibet

by quicksilversquared



Series: It Was Only Meant To Be A One-Shot [3]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Gen, adventures in a foreign country, assorted Miraculous lore, not particularly compliant with the latter part of S2 but oh well, post-reveal relationship, sequel to Plagg and the Butterfly Costume
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-05
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2019-08-19 11:34:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 129,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16533833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quicksilversquared/pseuds/quicksilversquared
Summary: With Hawkmoth defeated and school out for the summer, it’s time for Ladybug and Chat Noir plus their newly-assembled team of superheroes to head to Tibet to try to rescue Mrs. Agreste. Hiking, magic, and adventures await them, and hopefully at the end, they’ll be returning to Paris with Mrs. Agreste in tow.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> At last, the Plagg and the Butterfly Costume sequel! Yippee!
> 
> I came up with the idea for this/started writing it back when we were only a few episodes into S2, so some of the development since then (the creepy AF basement, Nathalie and her recent shenanigans) has been completely and utterly ignored.
> 
> Also- I did try to do some research about Tibet when writing, but if I mucked anything up please let me know and I'll do my best to fix it!

"Are you _sure_ you have enough clothes packed? That's really not a lot. I thought that we were going to be gone for _weeks_."

Marinette laughed and tossed a pair of socks at her boyfriend instead of putting them in her suitcase. They sailed past his head and hit one of her mannequins instead. "We're not planning on being gone forever, kitty. And we can wash stuff in a stream or something while we're in Tibet. I think I have enough."

"Besides, if you're successful, you guys will probably spend the whole trip back to the airport transformed," Tikki pointed out from where she was perched on Marinette's desk. "To keep your identities safe and all that. And you might spend part of the trip out to the temple ruins transformed, too, if we can pack enough food. So you wouldn't have to change clothes as often if you do that. _Outer_ clothes, that is."

"I've just never really traveled much before," Adrien admitted, settling down on Marinette's chair and watching as she rearranged the clothes in her suitcase so they would fit better. "I don't know if I packed enough, or too much, or what. Plagg isn't any help."

Plagg made a rather half-hearted noise of protest from where he was lounging in the remains of a bowl of cheesy popcorn. Marinette laughed again.

"We can go check on your packing after I finish up here, okay? We can use the packing list Maman gave me to make sure you have everything you need." Marinette glanced at the list again and then set it aside so she could zip up her backpack. "And to make sure you didn't over-pack. We're going to be carrying everything for a while, you know. Anything too bulky will cause problems."

Adrien nodded. "Yeah, I know. And Nino's already been sure to remind me that I'm not going to be able to shower as often as normal." He let out a huff. "And his definition of my 'normal' is several times a day, and nothing I say can change his mind- and now my girlfriend is laughing at me again!"

Marinette was cackling. "Oh, it's your own fault!" she managed. "You and your habit of hopping into the shower whenever akumas were after you!"

Adrien was still trying to protest that _that wasn't fair, she_ _ **knew**_ _that he hadn't actually been in the shower those times, what other choice had he_ _ **had**_ when Marinette's mom popped up into her room to check on them, Nooroo perched on her shoulder. She raised an eyebrow at the socks draped over the base of one of the mannequins and Marinette scrambled to pick them up.

"I rather thought you were packing," her mother said placidly as Marinette stuffed the socks back into their drawer. "That didn't look like packing to me."

"I'm done," Marinette said quickly, pointing to the suitcase. "We were just talking about going over to Adrien's house so I could make sure that he hasn't packed too much. Or too little, we don't know what to expect."

"Nathalie hasn't insisted on doing a check herself?" Mrs. Cheng looked surprised. "I would have thought that she would. She seems the type."

Adrien just shook his head. "She doesn't actually know where we're going, so she would be suspicious if she looked through and didn't see, like, dress shoes or something. She wouldn't see a problem with having a lot of weight because I overpacked. And she already has enough to take care of right now without supervising me too much."

"Okay, then maybe you should go over right away and get that done," Mrs. Cheng told them. "After all, Alya and Nino will be coming over later, and you know you won't want to leave once they're here. I know you could do it a little later in the week since we still have a few days yet, but it's better to be ready early."

"Yes, Mom," Marinette said immediately, and Adrien echoed with a "Yes, Mrs. Cheng."

Five minutes later, Ladybug and Chat Noir were racing over the rooftops towards Adrien's house. There were a lot of crowds below as kids milled around, enjoying the summer sun. Some pointed up at the superheroes, but most only spared them a glance. Now that Hawkmoth was in jail- well, on trial and being held in jail in the meantime- and there was barely any need for the superheroes, people didn't pay _quite_ as much attention to them as they had before. Besides, they had become quite the common sight over the last year, and the novelty of the superheroes had finally started to wear off a bit.

It wasn't long before the two of them reached Adrien's house and slipped inside, unseen by a few lingering reporters by the front gate. Despite laws that had passed banning harassment of family members of criminals _especially_ when those family members were minors, some reporters still seemed to think that those laws didn't apply to them and hung out near the mansion walls in hopes of a scoop in the form of an interview with Hawkmoth's son. Adrien wasn't sure if they just wanted a tearful story of betrayal or if they were hoping to trick him into 'confessing' that he had actually worked alongside his father, even though the police had already long since cleared him of all suspicion.

(It had helped Adrien's case greatly that he had been targeted by akumas several times and almost died, and it also helped to have both Ladybug and Chat Noir vouch for him, though of course Chat Noir had had _mysterious_ family obligations to attend whenever Adrien had to show up. Still, that didn't dissuade _some_ people on the prowl for a scandalous story.)

The two superheroes dropped in through Adrien's open window and detransformed. Plagg and Tikki made a beeline for the combination cabinet/fridge under Adrien's desk while Adrien led Marinette towards his suitcase and the piles of clothes set up in and around it on his bed. He hadn't been quite sure what to pack (other than _not fancy clothes_ , which was pretty obvious), so there was a bit of everything set out. Marinette groaned at him and dove into the piles, packing some things into the suitcase and shoving other piles into Adrien's arms so he could put them away later on. Adrien did as he was told, happy to have the guidance.

"Part of me wishes that there weren't so _many_ of us going on this trip," Adrien said as he put away the set of hand towels that he had gotten out _just in case_ , _Marinette, I didn't know if they might come in handy for something, stop rolling your eyes at me_. "I mean, it'll be fun to spend time with the other Miraculous holders, and I know we need all of us to free my mom, but I'd love to be able to go on a vacation with just you and your family."

"It's not exactly a vacation," Marinette pointed out, tossing a jean jacket towards him. "It's a trip, yeah, but think more business trip than vacation even though we'll be doing a lot of hiking. And it'll be fun to hang out with Nino and Alya."

"I know. I think I'm just worried about having to spend so much time with _Chloe_ while we're out in the wilderness. She doesn't _do_ wilderness, and I'm worried that she might get really prickly after the first few hours." It had been a surprise when Master Fu had picked _Chloe_ of all people to be a Miraculous holder for the bee, but she really did come through for Adrien after Mr. Agreste was arrested. Instead of pestering her father for a larger allowance or new dresses like she normally did, she tried to persuade her father to up the enforcement of a law that was supposed to keep reporters following Adrien around at all. She also pestered him to pass a law that kept anyone from cornering Ladybug and Chat Noir in search of more information than they had already given the police, even before knowing that Adrien was Chat Noir and that he was in no mood to be hounded for any information.

Pollen had been pleased- she liked her holders complicated and prickly, and it was probably the best match in centuries since the temple monks always weeded out people who weren't nice all the time. She had been working with Chloe to redirect the snark and the rudeness towards people who actually deserved it and while the two of them hadn't been together terribly long, only for a couple weeks before the end of the school year, Adrien had already seen some change- actual permanent, _consistent_ change, not the little bits of improvement that vanished immediately afterwards like Chloe had been showing earlier in the school year. She had even apologized to people on her own accord, without throwing in any backhand insults.

Still, bad habits were hard to break, and it would be all too easy to fall back on those bad habits when they were tired and footsore and out in the middle of nowhere. If Chloe went bratty and spiteful on their journey, she would make it very, _very_ unpleasant for the rest of them.

"Ooh, do you think we should stop over there to make sure her packing isn't as ridiculous as yours?" Marinette asked, pausing partway through re-folding a shirt. "If she ruins her expensive shoes or stains some designer shirt on our hike, we'll never hear the end of it."

Adrien winced at the thought. "Oh, yeah. That's probably a good idea."

"What did she tell her father about the trip, do you know?"

Adrien could only shrug helplessly. Chloe hadn't told him exactly what she had told her father, she just turned up at the bakery one morning waving seven plane tickets and telling him and Marinette that her father would be paying for the plane tickets and for any hotels that they would be staying at. Adrien would have argued and insisted that his family pay, since his parents _were_ the reason that the seven of them even had to go to Tibet in the first place, but his father's accounts had been largely frozen and any large spending would be questioned and examined, both by Nathalie and the police.

On top of that, as far as Nathalie was concerned, Adrien was tagging along with Marinette and Sabine and _only_ Marinette and Sabine on their trip to visit Sabine's parents. She would seriously question any other expenses, especially when he was supposedly staying with Marinette's extended family. They didn't want to tip her off about Adrien and Marinette and the others being Miraculous holders, just to be safe.

"We'll go over to visit and check on her packing after I've gotten you straightened out," Marinette decided. "And speaking of which- Adrien, why on _earth_ would you need a winter jacket like this? It's _summer!_ And if we go through any cold areas, we can just transform and speed through. It's too bulky"

Adrien just shrugged and took the jacket so he could set it aside.

"And- _Adrien!_ Do they never teach rich people how to pack? You are _not_ bringing your entire pillow!"

 

* * *

 

"I come bearing gifts," Alya droned as she and Nino pushed their way through the trapdoor into Marinette's room. She was carrying what looked like a duffel bag attached to her back and was carrying another. Nino was carrying another one- and on second glance, the bags looked more like a hybrid between a duffel bag and a backpack. "Come over here and help, you two."

Adrien rolled off of Marinette's lap and onto the floor so he could push himself up and head over. He took Alya's second backpack and hauled it over to where Marinette was still sitting.

"Are those backpacking bags?" Marinette asked, leaning forward to get a better look. "Oh, sweet! Those will be easier to carry than suitcases, for sure. Especially if we can't get everything to fit in Master Fu's shield."

"My family has five," Alya reported, shrugging her backpack off. Nino did the same. "One that's mine, my parents' current backpacks, and then their old ones. I figured Nino and I could use two of them, and then you two and Marinette's mom could use the other three. I was going to offer one to Chloe, but she said that she was going to get a new one instead of using a ratty old thing." She paused. "But she said thanks for the idea, so there's that."

Adrien hastily muffled a laugh.

"I just wish I had one for Master Fu," Alya added on. "But I think they would all be too big for him anyway."

"He'll be transformed most of the time," Marinette reminded her. "And he can just carry bags in his shell, too. But it'll be nice to not be piling seven suitcases into the shell behind him."

"And the bags will vanish if you're wearing them when you transform," Duusu piped up, flying up to perch on Nino's head. "Which it wouldn't do with a suitcase, because you can't wear those. So this is _definitely_ a better solution."

Adrien let out a sigh. "And just when I had gotten my suitcase packed up nice and pretty, too," he said, pretending to be mournful. "Now I gotta go and rearrange everything again."

Marinette poked his side. "You mean just when _I_ had just gotten your suitcase all arranged nice and pretty, kitty," she teased. "I'm not sure that you had all that much to do with it!"

"I put things that you said I wouldn't need away!"

"And who took those things out in the first place, I wonder?" Nino joked. He grinned when Adrien made a face at him.

"Wait, when did you tell Chloe about the backpacks?" Marinette asked Alya as the two boys made faces at each other. "Adrien and I were just there!"

" _Really?_ When?" Alya exclaimed. "We didn't see you at all! We were there maybe half an hour ago."

"We left an hour and a half ago," Adrien piped up. "After making sure that Chloe wasn't going overboard with her packing." He grinned. "All we learned was that she took the opportunity to go shopping and ran with it. I swear everything she has for the trip is both new and top of the line hiking stuff, and she'll probably only use it this once." Some of the things that she had bought made sense, because she hadn't owned anything that she could use instead- new hiking boots and a tent, mostly- while everything else was just cute outfits made with hardy fabric that would be easy to hike and climb in but wouldn't tear or stain as easily as normal stuff, and that also had sun protection worked in. Chloe had spent most of their visit modeling the pieces she had bought, arranging her stylish yellow sun hat on her head as she spun around on an imaginary catwalk.

He was glad that she was having fun with it now. Somehow he suspected that Chloe wouldn't be so cheery once they got to the actual hiking part of the trip, but that was a problem for later.

"Did she tell you what she's told Sabrina about why she'll be gone?" Alya asked. "Or has she pulled another thing where she doesn't tell anyone anything and yet everyone just accepts it?"

"The latter, I think," Adrien said with a laugh. Chloe had a talent for that, as annoying and pushy as it could be sometimes. She didn't ask for permission, she _told_ people something and made it very clear that she would be giving out no further information, so clear that people often didn't bother asking for clarification because they knew they wouldn't get it.

Nino let out a huff. " _Man_ , I wish I could do that. My parents almost didn't let me go, and that would have _sucked_."

Alya just shook her head. "As much as I wish that I could get away with that, I think I prefer having to deal with my parents wanting to know where I'm going to be and why."

Adrien had to nod in agreement. Chloe got away with things because her father was too busy to pay her much attention. It wasn't something to be jealous of.

"I can't wait until we go," Alya said after a few moments of silence. "I've spent a chunk of my allowance on portable battery rechargers and extra batteries for my camera, so that I won't run out at all on the trip. I've looked up photos from the region, and they're all _gorgeous_."

"I've been telling her what I remember!" Trixx piped up, popping out of Alya's hair and grinning when they all jumped. "About how pretty everything is, and all of the mountains. It'll be nice to go back and see everything again, but it'll be sad to see the temples all smashed."

"I'm _glad_ it was smashed," Plagg grumbled from the desk. He burped loudly. "That wasn't how the Miraculous were meant to be used. They weren't meant to all be collected and kept in one place."

Tikki gave him a reproachful look. "It would have been better if they just disbanded on their own like we were telling them to do, instead of being attacked and destroyed. There was some good information that they were discovering, and a lot of the research was lost. And there were a _lot_ of deaths."

"A sign from the universe, then."

Tikki looked like she was about to explode.

"I'm looking forward to it, too," Marinette said a little loudly before the kwamis could start arguing. "Until we found out who Hawkmoth was, I was thinking that the fights might go on for years and I wouldn't be able to leave Paris at all until it was all over, so it's nice to do a trip like this now even if we were only tied to the city for less than a year. Besides, Master Fu keeps telling us more stories about what it was like, and I bet he'll tell more once we're actually in Tibet."

"That's going to be great," Alya said, grinning. "Ooh, I know I'm going to record it all, but I _so_ wish that I could put it on my blog. But I can't, and I _know_ I can't, and not just because my parents think that I'm going with you to visit your family and would wonder when I had the time to wander off and find an old Miraculous holder."

"I'm officially jealous that you don't have to lie to your parents, Marinette," Nino told her. "We're all going to have to make up stories except for you."

Marinette raised an eyebrow at her friends. "You forget that I had to lie to my parents for a _year_. At least for you it's going to be a one-time thing."

"But a _big_ one-time thing," Alya countered.

"Hey, at least you have a cover story in place now. _And_ you're getting out of babysitting." Adrien grinned when Alya pumped her fist in victory. " _And_ you aren't missing class and getting in trouble like Mari and I did."

"I just really hope that my parents don't talk to Nathalie at all," Alya said after a moment at all. "Or Nino's parents. That could make things really difficult."

They all cringed at the thought of what Nathalie might do if it came out that Adrien wasn't the only one traveling with Marinette and Mrs. Cheng. She would probably interrogate whatever poor parent had made the mistake of talking to her, and then storm right over to the bakery and demand to speak with Marinette's dad. She was sharp enough that she would be able to figure out that the extra people on the trip probably wasn't the only thing that they were hiding from her.

"Well, Nathalie _will_ probably be pretty busy," Adrien pointed out after a moment. "There's all sorts of paperwork for the business that she's trying to go through. My dad isn't in charge anymore but since he was the founder, she has to figure out what parts of it we might still have. I think there's shareholder stock or something like that, and my mom had a higher-up position there as well, but..." Adrien shrugged. He hadn't really been interested in the details, and Nathalie hadn't really given him more information than that anyway. "She trusts Marinette's parents, so I doubt that she would actively go looking for you or Nino. Or your parents."

"Is that a very long-winded way of saying that Nathalie won't be out and about to run into our families anyway?" Nino joked. "I'm not surprised. She was always busy before, and everything with your father has got to be an absolute pile of paperwork."

Adrien just made a bit of a face and nodded. No one missed how Adrien shifted slightly closer to Marinette, brushing his fingers against Marinette's hand. She took his hand at once, twining her fingers with his.

The whole topic of his father could still be a bit touchy, but he was slowly getting over it. Slowly.

"Speaking of being busy, what if your dad doing with you mom on the trip?" Nino asked Marinette. "He's not trying to run the bakery by himself, is he?"

Marinette snorted with laughter. "He _never_ runs the bakery by himself- _or_ with just him and my mom, either. They have helpers in the back to prep in the morning and early afternoon every day. But yeah, he's hiring someone to cover the counter for the summer. Once we get back, then my mom will just work in the back. Or she'll do the decorating out front, but just not cover the counter unless the worker needs a break."

From there, the four of them settled down to play some board games before dinner. Conversation jumped from topic to topic as they talked about the end of the school year and what their other friends were up to. Nino talked excitedly about some new music that had come out that he just couldn't wait to mix, but it would have to wait until after their trip. Alya showed them all her camera and all of the settings it had. The kwamis chimed in, bringing the number of players from four up to seven (Plagg had decided not to play, instead spending the time savoring a chunk of Gouda that Adrien had handed him).

It was normal and it was fun and relaxing and best of all, Adrien wasn't going to get called away for a photoshoot or some other activity that he didn't really want to attend.

 

* * *

 

The day before the seven of them left for Tibet and their Mrs. Agreste rescue mission, Mr. Agreste was finally formally sentenced. He got fifteen to twenty years in prison, which Adrien didn't think was _entirely_ enough, considering that he had engaged in magical domestic terrorism and, had Ladybug not been there, people- a _lot_ of people- would have died in the attacks.

But Ladybug _had_ been there and there was no lasting damage from the attacks, and the public didn't know about the "equivalent exchange" that would have occurred had Ladybug and Chat Noir failed to win. The people in charge of the sentencing had been swayed a bit by the fact that the attacks had been fueled by love- Mr. Agreste was just missing his wife, some people had said. And while yes, most people dealing with loss and grief didn't resort to terrorizing a city in an attempt to get magical artifacts to recover their lost family members, the changed timeline, had he achieved that, would have resulted in the erasing of the akuma attacks entirely.

Adrien was sour about that, just a bit. After all, he knew about the exchange that would have been required and so had his father, which meant that he knew that someone would have died or at least been trapped like Adrien's mother had in her place. Adrien knew that his father had deliberately provoked people to get upset so that he could akumatize them, knew that he had endangered people and hadn't cared, even if Ladybug's Cure would fix it if she won and that the altered timeline would make it never happen if Hawkmoth had come out on top.

But at least his father would be locked up until well after when Adrien would have moved out and gotten a job and established his own life well enough that his father wouldn't be able to ruin it. That was a positive, at least.

"I won't tell your father that you're out of the country," Nathalie promised Adrien as she helped him carry his stuffed backpack out to the car, where the Gorilla was waiting to bring him over to the Dupain-Cheng house. "If he even tries to contact us at all, which I'm not entirely sure that he'll be _allowed_ to. I'll just tell him that you aren't interested in being in contact with him at the moment."

That much was true, at least. Grinning, Adrien thanked Nathalie, gave her a hug (she had gotten better at not stiffening up when hugged over the past few months), said good-bye and promised to give her at least a _little_ heads up before coming home, and then hopped in the car. The Gorilla pulled away smoothly, giving the reporters lingering near the gate a glare. Several hastily beat a retreat- Nathalie had called the police on them before, and it was an experience that none of them would really want to repeat- while others brazenly surged forward, lifting cameras to snap a photo of Adrien for whatever story they were going to run.

Adrien ignored them, making sure that he looked unbothered as he leaned one arm against the window and checked his phone. Chloe had sent a picture of her new backpacking bag and was showing it off along with one of her hiking outfits. The pack was so very _Chloe_ \- how she had managed to get a yellow and black backpack on such short notice, he had no idea- and it definitely went with her outfit. He sent back a text telling her so before leaning back and watching as they drew closer to the bakery, where he would be staying overnight with Marinette and Nino and Alya before leaving for the airport bright and early.

They pulled up to the curb, and Adrien hopped out. The Gorilla handed him his backpack and escorted him to the steps, staying there like a protective, looming shadow until Marinette answered the door and ushered Adrien in. His stern expression brightened when Marinette gifted him with a box of assorted pastries from the bakery. With one last wave to Adrien, the Gorilla hopped back in the car and left.

"Nino and Alya are coming over after dinner," Marinette told Adrien as they headed upstairs. "Because their families wanted to have a few more hours with them. And Chloe is just going to meet us at the airport."

"And Master Fu?"

"We'll pick him up on our way to the airport tomorrow."

Upstairs, Adrien spotted Tikki and Nooroo perched in front of the TV, watching a cooking show. They each had a bowl of snacks set out for them, and there was a third bowl filled with cheesy popcorn for Plagg. Plagg zipped off with a squeal, and Adrien and Marinette continued up to Marinette's room.

"I'd set up my sleeping bag up, but I think we all know that I wouldn't use it," Adrien joked. He grinned at Marinette's blush. "So shy, buginette! It's like we haven't been sharing a bed most nights for a couple months now."

"It's different when Nino and Alya are going to be in the same room!" Marinette protested. "And it was only _most_ nights at first."

Adrien was trying not to laugh. "How does Alya and Nino being here change anything? Your parents always know when I'm sleeping over."

"It just _does!_ You know that they're going to take pictures of us sleeping."

Adrien stretched out across Marinette's lounger while she sketched out a few designs at her desk. It was a bit warm in Marinette's house- a side effect of being located above a bakery- but not yet unbearable. He watched his girlfriend sketch, occasionally muttering to herself as she changed something or came up with a new idea. There were periods of silence as Marinette regarded a design, and occasional periods where her pencil scribbled frantically.

"You're bringing sketchbooks on the trip, right?" Adrien asked during one of Marinette's longer pauses. "You'll probably get inspired by the scenery."

"I _am_ , but I don't know if I'll actually have the time to design." Marinette regarded her notebook again. "We'll be hiking pretty much all day, and then once we stop, it'll be too dark to sketch."

"I could carry you while you design," Adrien offered. "I mean, I would transform first," he added quickly when Marinette shot him a dubious look. "Or I suppose you could hop into Master Fu's shell for a few minutes if he's transformed and just float along with the rest of us while you get your ideas down."

"But if I got into the shell to ride for a bit, I don't know if I would want to get back out and walk," Marinette said with a laugh. "And I don't know how well I'd be able to draw if you were just carrying me along. My drawing might come out a bit bumpy."

Adrien grinned, wide enough that he was sure Marinette could see it. "Aw, but _Princess._ Don't you know that I have a catlike stride? _Purr_ -fectly smooth."

Marinette laughed.

By the time Marinette's mother called them down for lunch, the two of them had long since abandoned the designing and lounging in favor of playing Ultimate Mega Strike 3. The two of them fought together in the game world as seamlessly and effectively as they had during akuma fights, meaning that they defeated their online opponents every single time. Marinette had taught Adrien her attacks, so now Adrien could do more than frantically mash buttons at the speed of light and hope to win.

Now, he _strategically_ button-mashed. It made a world of difference.

"Has Nathalie let your instructors for all of your activities know that you'll be out of town?" Mrs. Cheng asked Adrien as she handed him a sandwich.

Adrien nodded. "Mr. D'Argencourt wasn't happy about it," he added. "I've _never_ been out of town before. Sometimes I've had to miss a day or two of class here and there, but never _weeks_. And he's also not thrilled that I'll be missing a couple fencing matches. Thankfully none of them are qualifiers, so it doesn't really matter, but it's nice to get the practice in with people I don't fight with every week."

"And your other instructors?"

"Well, Nathalie is in the middle of trying to find a new Mandarin instructor for me. The last one quit." His former instructor had quit only shortly after Mr. Agreste was arrested, and it had come as a bit of a shock to Adrien. The man had been the first person to treat Adrien as though it were somehow his fault that his father was an ass and a criminal to boot (and unfortunately, had not been the last). Nathalie had told Adrien that if the instructor were going to be that stupid, Adrien would be better off without that man anyway. Now Nathalie was looking for a new instructor, one that would stand up to the quality that Adrien needed. "And my piano teacher always goes on vacation for a month in the summer anyway, since she has kids in school and they go to see her husband's family in southern France."

"And your basketball coach?"

Adrien laughed. "He's used to people running off during the summer. We would have had fewer practices anyway."

Mrs. Cheng returned to the stove to retrieve Marinette's sandwich. Nooroo flitted to her shoulder as she did, settling down happily and accepting a bit of fruit as a snack. Adrien grinned at the sight.

Nooroo _definitely_ deserved to have a nice holder like Mrs. Cheng after having to deal with his father for so long.

"I don't know how you keep on top of all of that during the school year," Mrs. Cheng told Adrien as he and Marinette settled down at the table to eat. " _Plus_ photoshoots and being a superhero! Utter insanity. You must be _very_ good at juggling everything."

"Well, basketball and fencing and Mandarin and piano were only one lesson each per week during the school year," Adrien told her. "And Mandarin and piano were only an hour each, not counting homework and practice. It wasn't _that_ bad, but it'll definitely be easier next year without having to run off for attacks. I might try to cut back on some of my other lessons too, but... I mean, what I'm allowed to drop depends on who I have to persuade." Nathalie would probably allow him to drop an activity or cut back on how often he had a teacher come over for lessons, but his mother might not.

"What would you drop?" Mrs. Cheng asked. She looked interested, as did Nooroo. "Anything in particular?"

Adrien gave it a couple seconds' thought. "Well, I might cut back on piano lessons, because I'm already pretty good. And I want to change my Mandarin lessons to be more conversational and less homework, because I'm pretty good on paper. I don't think that several hours of homework per week is going to help me grow that much at this point."

Mrs. Cheng perked up. "Oh, if you wanted to come over and help me behind the corner some days, we could practice conversational Mandarin. Or perhaps Master Fu would be willing to practice with you. He knows Mandarin as well, after all."

"So I could do that instead of lessons?" Adrien considered it. He _really_ liked that idea. "I like that. I might text Nathalie and tell her, so she can stop looking for a replacement instructor."

"It would be more fun than homework for sure." Mrs. Cheng snuck an impish look at Marinette. "And perhaps Marinette will pick something up. I tried teaching her Mandarin when she was younger, but I don't think she remembers much."

Marinette pouted. Adrien grinned. His girlfriend's expressiveness was the _best_ and never failed to amuse him.

As the two teens ate, Mrs. Cheng bustled around the kitchen. Nooroo zipped after her, sneaking bites of whatever she was working on. Tikki and Plagg floated over to join their Chosens, and Plagg tried to steal the cheese from Adrien's sandwich when he wasn't looking. Adrien swatted him away.

"Can Marinette make me a cheese bread bowl today?" Plagg asked, undeterred. "I know it's not Thursday, but we're going to be gone for weeks and I'll be getting stupid _mushrooms_ for most of the trip. Dried mushrooms and Cheddar and Parmesan, at best."

"Or Gouda and Gruyere," Adrien added. " _If_ we can find all of that at the grocery stores. It really depends on what's available, so... it _might_ just be all Cheddar. We can't bring cheese across the border, so we can't just stock up here."

Marinette giggled. "We're going to be the weirdest shoppers ever, between all of the kwamis' foods. Chocolate and sugar cubes for Tikki, cheese and dried mushrooms for Plagg, honey for Pollen, dried fruit for Trixx-"

"But can I get a cheese bread bowl today?" Plagg interrupted. "Pretty please?"

Mrs. Cheng glanced over at them. "Are you two all packed and ready to go?" They nodded. "Then I think it would be nice if you make the bread bowl. And then you could make white chocolate-lavender cookies while that's baking."

Tikki perked up. Plagg cheered.

"So that's the rest of the afternoon for us, then," Marinette said with a laugh. "Adrien?"

Adrien was sitting up eagerly. "Yeah! I love learning how to bake."

"I'd say that we can take any leftovers on the plane, but..." Mrs. Cheng glanced over at Plagg. "I'm not sure anything will be _left_."

Plagg looked like he was thinking about making a rude noise. Thankfully, he reconsidered.

"I need to get back downstairs to check up on our summer counter worker," Mrs. Cheng said once they were partway through their lunch. "But you know where the recipes are, Marinette. Just make sure that everything gets cleaned up, okay?"

"Of course, _Maman_ ," Marinette promised.

"And Tikki- I'd like at least a couple cookies left over for the trip tomorrow."

Tikki giggled. "Of course, Madam Cheng!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay first chapter! This will end up being about 22 chapters long.
> 
> As always, reviews make my day!


	2. Chapter 2

Adrien shuffled in his seat, glancing out the plane windows at the clouds outside. He was glad that they had finally gotten on the plane and settled, because there had been a _lot_ of staring going on in the airport. People recognized him and stared and pointed, some even going so far as to start heading in his direction before the twin disapproving glares from Marinette and her mother made them reconsider. He was sure that there were people trying to take his picture, too, so it had _definitely_ been a good idea to have Master Fu, Nino, Alya, and Chloe keep away from the three of them. Nathalie was most definitely going to see at least one of those posts and it would be best if there weren't people with him that he hadn't told her about.

If they managed to recover his mother, Adrien would have to hope that she didn't look up any mentions of him on social media. He (well, mostly Nathalie, but also him, and Marinette's family as well) would get in trouble if his mother heard that he had been spotted at the airport.

But now that they were on the plane and in the air, everyone was seated and there were no stares. Adrien was free to twine his fingers with Marinette's and relax, but he couldn't keep from fidgeting as his mind raced. In a few hours- well, maybe more than a _few_ , it was a _really_ long flight- they would be in Tibet. They would take a day to rest up and buy grocery supplies, and then they would set out to try to rescue his mother.

The thought made him slightly ill from nerves. They wouldn't know for certain if they _could_ free his mother from the booby trap at the temple until they were actually at the temple and had tried it, and Adrien had been doing his best not to get his hopes up. And even if they _did_ get her back, there could be problems.

They would have to tell his mother that his father was in jail and would be there for years on charges of domestic terrorism and attempts to change the timeline. They would have to interrogate her with all of the questions they had come up with from reading all of the Agrestes' journals. There had been a lot of holes, a lot of things that conflicted or didn't quite make sense. At least one of the kwamis would have to be out when they told his mom- probably Nooroo, as the emotion-sensing kwami- to see if she was telling the truth. They would have to travel transformed back to civilization and then to the airport, all without getting their identities revealed, which would present all sorts of logistical problems.

It would be worth it, of course. _If_ the spell worked, which still wasn't a for-certain thing.

"You're worrying again," Marinette murmured, squeezing his hand. "Remember what Fu said, about looking forward instead of back?"

"Yeah, but it's the _forward_ that I'm worrying about." Adrien huffed and squeezed Marinette's hand back. "We don't know if the spell is going to work, and what happens if she comes back and she's not who I remembered? Like, I thought I knew my father, but look how well _that_ turned out."

He didn't want the same thing to happen with his mother. He didn't think he would be able to handle it, not right now. Not even with his support network, even as strong it was.

Marinette just chewed on her lip, not answering. Adrien knew that she didn't want him to get his hopes up only to have them dashed later on. Right now, all signs pointed to his mother's interest in the Miraculous being entirely innocent- the journals said that his parents had just been looking for the missing Miraculous to recover them for a friend of his mother's who had a family member with a Miraculous- but if Adrien were going to have any ill intentions with a piece of magical jewelry, he wouldn't leave a paper trail, and most other people would be smart enough to do the same.

The friend was a woman that Madam Agreste had met while studying abroad and was the grandchild of the Rat Miraculous holder. Apparently their grandfather had always dreamed of recovering the two lost Miraculous and returning them to the Guardian. The Rat was a lower-level Miraculous and a support player in all of the battles that it had actually participated in, so recovering the Peacock and the Butterfly- two powerful upper-level Miraculous that had been lost for several generations- would be a great achievement for them. But the grandfather had gotten too old to look, and Mrs. Agreste had wanted to help him achieve his dream, and Mr. Agreste had been interested in helping, just for the sake of helping.

At least, that was what the entries in the journal claimed. They would only know the truth if they could save Mrs. Agreste and talk to her.

"It just occurred to me that maybe we should have asked my father before we left," Adrien admitted quietly, dipping close to Marinette's ear so that nobody else could hear. "We could have gone as Ladybug and Chat Noir and brought Nooroo along as a magical lie detector and asked why he was looking for the Miraculous in the first place, just to test him. I should have thought of it earlier."

"Would you have been okay with seeing him again?" Marinette asked. She slid her hand into Adrien's hair, pulling him close so she could pet him as she spoke. "I know it was hard, when we had to go and testify at the trial."

Adrien worried his lip, thinking about it as Marinette played with his hair. She had a point, he knew that. He had been so sure that the trial would be easy. He had had space from his father at that point, and prior to that had suffered through nearly a year of a cold, aloof parent. He hadn't thought that there would be any reason for this father to change.

But instead, Chat Noir arrived at the trial to find that his father seemed almost meek, the fight drained out of him. He had shown concern about what had happened to Adrien, and that alone made Chat Noir step back and take a minute to compose himself again. Thankfully the superheroes weren't required to attend all of the proceedings, because Chat Noir wouldn't have been able to handle it. They stepped back out almost as soon as they could, under the guise of needing to get back to their civilian lives before anyone noticed that they were missing.

Maybe it was a good thing that he hadn't had that idea while they were still in Paris. Having to face his father without the space and prying eyes of the courtroom might have been too much, especially if his father continued to act humbled and regretful. Having Ladybug go alone would have looked strange and wouldn't have been fair to her. Besides, Adrien was still protective. He wouldn't have wanted her to go see their former nemesis without backup- and specifically _him_ as backup.

It wasn't that he didn't trust their friends to have her back, but... well, Adrien knew that he was a more experienced fighter than any of the newer members of their team. In case something _did_ happen, he would want to be the one to be there.

"I wouldn't have wanted to actually see him in jail," Adrien confessed, face buried in Marinette's neck. "It's one thing to know that he's there, but to _see_ it..."

"Of course," Marinette hugged him, and Adrien relished in the contact. He didn't think he would ever get tired of it.

As the plane flew on, Adrien and Marinette started in on their collection of in-flight games. It would be a long-haul flight, thankfully with two meals served on the plane.

It was one _hell_ of a flight to be Adrien's first-ever plane ride. Only two hours in, and he was already getting restless.

"At least we can sleep for part of it," Marinette pointed out when Adrien grumbled about it. "It won't be comfortable, and I'm sure Chloe will complain about not having gotten a first-class seat for it, but it _does_ make the time go faster."

Adrien perked up, grinning. "So you're suggesting that I take a _catnap_?"

Marinette groaned.

Three hours in, the smell of food filled Adrien's nose. He perked up, twisting in his seat to try to locate the source of the smell.

"They'll be serving lunch soon," Marinette explained when she spotted Adrien craning his neck around. "So they're warming everything up now."

"And then they'll come around with it?"

"They serve people with special requests first," Marinette explained. "People who are vegetarian or who can't have wheat or can't have dairy. Things like that. Then they just go up the aisles with the standard meals and feed everyone else."

Adrien was _sorely_ tempted to claim that he was vegetarian the next time he was on a long flight like this. Getting food even a little bit earlier sounded _amazing_ right now. He hadn't even realized that he was hungry before, but now he was ravenous.

"We probably should have brought snacks to tide us over," Marinette admitted when Adrien said what he was thinking. "More than just leftover cookies, I mean. But we would have had to finish everything fresh before landing, because otherwise we might run into some bumps with customs. And if we packed crackers, then we would eat far too many of them. Boredom eating, you know."

Adrien didn't particularly see a problem with that. After all, they would be eating fairly healthy when they were traveling, right? And they ate healthy at home, too. It would just be for the flight where they would be eating things that they maybe shouldn't be.

Their meal finally arrived, and Adrien eagerly dug in. It wasn't gourmet by any means- nowhere near as good as the food he got at home or anything Marinette's parents made- but it was food, and it was decent enough. He dug in, torn between eating quickly and drawing it out a bit, just so eating would take up a bit more time.

"It's better than some airplane food I've had," Marinette said as she dug into her own food. "It really varies."

Up a row, they could see Chloe making a face as she tasted the first few bites of her food. Thankfully she didn't comment at all, instead just huffing as she continued to eat.

All too soon, the meal was finished up and the flight attendants came around to collect the containers the food had come in. Adrien tried to go back to his crossword puzzles, but he was too fidgety to focus. He didn't particularly like sitting still in such a cramped space for such a long time.

And they weren't even halfway there yet.

"You can do a bit of walking up and down the aisle once the flight attendants are done with their rounds," Marinette told him. "So you can stretch your legs. I would recommend it, actually."

Over the next several hours, Adrien made several rounds up and down the plane, feeling like a trapped, prowling cat. He spent ten minutes with one of Chloe's magazines before deciding that trying to read through the pages and pages of celebrity gossip was worse than having nothing to read at all. They got another meal, and then the lights dimmed so that the passengers could sleep for a few hours before they landed.

Adrien yawned, wishing he could lay down in a proper bed or at least stretch out a little bit. The chair in front of him reclined, cutting into his already limited space, and Adrien was about to be irritated until Marinette showed him how he could do the same thing with his own chair.

It wasn't long before Marinette dozed off against his shoulder. Adrien let his head drop onto hers, relaxing and dozing off a bit himself, even as uncomfortable as the position was. He woke with a start when the roar of the engines changed slightly, becoming ever-so-slightly louder.

"We'll be landing shortly," Mrs. Cheng told Adrien as he blinked awake, leaning across the aisle and over her daughter so he could hear her. "You might want to make sure you have everything packed up and then wake Marinette up. She can sleep while we wait for the next flight."

Adrien nodded, leaning forward to tuck Chloe's magazine and his book of word games back in his backpack under the seat in front of him. He made sure that nothing had fallen out, then sat back up.

Or, rather, he tried to sit back up. But when he leaned forward, Marinette's head had slid off of his shoulder and behind him. Adrien couldn't sit all the way up without squishing his girlfriend's head.

How Marinette had actually managed to stay asleep, Adrien really didn't know. She was just talented that way. She was also probably pretty tired, considering that they _really_ hadn't been asleep for that long.

Adrien twisted around as far as he could, pushing Marinette's head back up so he could lean back. He had just re-settled her head into place on his shoulder when Marinette's eyes blinked open blearily.

"Sorry for waking you up," Adrien said immediately. "We're going to be landing soon, though."

Marinette groaned and buried her face in Adrien's shoulder. " _Nooo_. I wanna sleep."

"Well, we're going to be in a different time zone, so maybe being a bit tired will help," Adrien suggested, though he really didn't know personally since he hadn't really been out of the country before. In fact, was lucky that he even had a up-to-date passport. On top of that, he rather agreed with Marinette. He wanted to sleep for several hours more. "We'll be getting up early every day, and that's even without the time change."

Marinette groaned louder. Adrien laughed and pressed a kiss to the top of her head, grinning down at her.

Maybe they were going on a trip to try to save his mother and they had no guarantee that it would work, but Marinette's familiar groaning was providing a sense of normalcy that he sorely needed.

The plane angled downwards, and Adrien clutched Marinette's hand nervously as the bottom of his stomach dropped out. Marinette looked perfectly calm, as did her mother, but Adrien had just decided that he didn't like the feeling of the plane coming in to land, just like he hadn't particularly liked takeoff.

And they had one more flight to do to get to their airport in Tibet, plus two flights to get back to Paris once they were done with their trip. Adrien was already not looking forward to it.

"Can I not have the window seat next time?" Adrien asked, cringing as the earth appeared in the window. They were so high up, higher up than he had ever gone even as Chat Noir, and it was making him queasy. "I just- I don't like seeing the descent. Or feeling it."

"We should have brought along some catnip to chill you out," Marinette said. She reached out to hug him. "Maybe we can find some in the airport."

"Why is it that we couldn't just get a direct flight?" Adrien grumbled. He pressed his face into Marinette's neck. "We're overshooting Tibet and then going back. That makes no sense."

"The airport in Tibet doesn't have any direct flights from Paris," Sabine told Adrien. "Yes, it's frustrating, but that's how it is."

It was Adrien's turn to groan.

"And then it's three days of travel by car to the point where we start hiking," Marinette added. "But there's no flying involved then. Just all seven of us jammed into a car."

" _Two_ cars," Mrs. Cheng corrected her. "And two of Master Fu's contacts will be driving, so add them in, too."

Adrien honestly couldn't wait. He would prefer being cramped up in a car with his girlfriend over having to deal with more airplane descents. Besides, they would be passing all sorts of lovely landscapes, which would be _great_. They missed that part while flying, even if flying _was_ faster.

The plane grew progressively closer to the ground, and Adrien did his best not to get sick. He could feel Plagg groaning in his pocket- his kwami was clearly in total agreement about planes and how ill they made him feel- and Marinette kept rubbing his back, keeping him as distracted as she could.

Finally the plane touched town, and Adrien kept his eyes squeezed shut until they had come to a stop. Once they had touched down Adrien wanted nothing more than to get off, to walk around and shake off the ill feeling that had come with flying, but their group had to sit tight as the rest of the passengers got off. Only once the aisle had cleared did Master Fu hop out of his seat and gesture that they should follow. Chloe glanced up and finally tucked the magazine that she had been perusing away in her backpack before following him. Alya and Nino were fast to follow, but Sabine waited for Adrien to extract himself from his seat. Marinette snagged their bags before following him up the aisle, and Adrien brought up the end.

"I can't believe that I'm the only one who got affected by that," Adrien said with a bit of a scoff as he got off the plane. He could tell that Alya and Nino hadn't been bothered at all- he had heard them giggling over something behind him and Marinette as the plane descended- and Master Fu hadn't seemed rattled at all either, though perhaps that was because he had slept straight through it. Adrien was meant to be some worldly model- that was what he had overheard his father tell the marketing people when they were developing his "image", whatever that meant- and here he was, ill from a simple plane ride.

"It's not your fault, kitty," Marinette assured him. Once she was off the plane, she linked her arm through his as they headed for Customs. She didn't look entirely awake, but she was making a valiant effort. "Some people just get more affected than others, and all of us have been on planes before, too. We'll try to find some tea in the airport that might help for the next flight."

"How soon do we have to get on that flight?" Adrien asked. He rested his head against Marinette's for a second as they walked, then realized that she was still carrying his backpack and scrambled to take it from her. "Can we just get it over with?"

"We have three hours before our next flight," Mrs. Cheng told him. "Which we'll need, to get through Customs and then to our next gate. I wouldn't want to cut it any closer."

Adrien made a face.

Going through Customs was slow, but not particularly difficult. Plagg inhaled what was left of his cheese stash before it could be confiscated, and then they were heading for their next gate. Master Fu got spotted by some helpful airport attendants and they got a little go-cart to drive him and his luggage to the next gate. The rest of them practically had to jog just to keep him in their sight, which wasn't much fun when they were all still yawning.

"We're a bit of an odd group," Mrs. Cheng said with a laugh as they claimed a section of chairs and a bit of floor for their backpacks. "We're attracting a bit of attention, I think. Adrien, would people recognize you here?"

"I _hope_ not." He didn't know for sure, since he had never been to China before. "I don't know, though."

"Hmm." Mrs. Cheng looked thoughtful, then she popped up off of her chair. "Well, then perhaps the three of us should go sniff around for some teas for you until we need to be back here for the flight. Grab your backpacks, and let's go."

"I'm going to go try to find somewhere decent to eat for breakfast," Chloe announced. "Alya, let's go. You can take pictures while you help me look."

"Wait, how are we going to order anything?" Adrien heard Alya ask as they left. "I don't know if people here would speak any French."

Adrien and Marinette trailed after Mrs. Cheng as she strode through the airport. She checked a map before heading confidently off, weaving between other travelers. It wasn't long before they arrived at a small tea shop nestled between the other airport stores. They had only been in the store for a couple seconds when an assistant materialized out of mid-air at Mrs. Cheng's side. They immediately started discussing possible options.

"Uh-oh," Adrien said as he followed along with the conversation as best as he could. "Some of the things they're talking about are the same things we used to help me sleep right after my father was arrested. Valerian and catnip, too."

Marinette grinned around a yawn. "Well, you can't get air-sick if you're knocked out."

"Right, but then who's going to carry my unconscious body around once we get to the airport in Tibet?"

Mrs. Cheng was shaking her head, asking for more options. The sales associate pointed at a few more things and Mrs. Cheng nodded, smiling. She picked up two small boxes, then headed over to the counter to pay.

"Do you think we maybe _should_ get valerian or catnip?" Adrien asked Marinette quietly. "I mean, I can definitely see myself getting really nervous and not being able to sleep once we get closer to the temple, or on the way back. I don't want to be relying on it again, not when I just got off of it, but-"

"I'm sure Mom is planning on buying some," Marinette assured him. "But airport prices are always ridiculous, and the product isn't always that quality. We'll probably go to a proper tea shop tomorrow morning and stock up there."

There was a giggle from Marinette's jacket, and Tikki peeped out. "Oh, we'll _definitely_ go to a proper tea shop! Wayzz told me that Master Fu packed a camping tea set. He'll stock up on all sorts of teas, both for him and for Wayzz."

"He'll be a traveling turtle tea tray," Adrien joked, pleased to see Marinette giggle. Mrs. Cheng stepped away from the counter with her bag of purchases, thanking the worker, and the two of them jumped to follow her. "Wait, where are we going to get hot water for the tea?"

"That's what I was just asking the saleslady. There's a hot water tap just down the hall, in the food court." Mrs. Cheng led the way. "I've got a thermos in my pack that I'll fill, and then we can grab a cup for you to use right away."

By the time they finished that errand and got back to their gate, Chloe and Alya had returned with food for all of them. It smelled amazing, though Chloe didn't look entirely convinced as she picked at her serving.

Well, Chloe _had_ always been a picky eater. At least she wasn't making a scene about it.

As they ate, Mrs. Cheng steeped some tea for Adrien. He downed almost the entire cup quickly since their flight had just started boarding, and almost immediately he knew that he was going to regret that later.

Hopefully the bathrooms on the plane were clean.

 

* * *

 

Adrien groaned as he fell face first into bed. Maybe it was technically still midafternoon in Lhasa, but he hadn't gotten that much sleep over the trip and he was ready to pass out for the rest of the day.

"I can't decide if I want to eat or if I want to sleep," Marinette said from where she was collapsed next to him on the bed. "I don't know how Mom and Master Fu have enough energy to go out shopping."

"They slept better than we did on the plane, I think," Adrien told her, his words muffled by the pillow. He felt ages better now that they were back on solid ground, less sick and jittery. The second landing had been no better than the first- the raspberry and ginger tea that Sabine had handed to him as the plane descended really hadn't helped much at all (in fact, all it accomplished was to make him really, _really_ need the bathroom)- and Adrien was of the opinion that if he had had to do that again, he probably would have gotten sick. "And they need to stock up for the kwamis, too. And get food for us."

Plagg's head appeared from his backpack. "Food? Have you gotten me food?"

Adrien's head dropped back down onto the pillow and he groaned.

"Why don't you explore the hotel and see if you can find something?" Marinette suggested. "Just don't pig out."

"I _never_ pig out!"

There was a _whoosh_ as Plagg zipped out in search of food. Adrien thought about being concerned about it for all of ten seconds before deciding that he was too tired to be worried about Plagg. Seconds later, he was asleep.

The sound of a door opening woke both Adrien and Marinette up, and they sat up to see Mrs. Cheng stepping into the room, loaded down with grocery bags. She set the bags down next to her bed before stepping over to rouse the two teens.

"We're going out to dinner soon," Mrs. Cheng told them. "You might want to get up and freshen up a bit before we leave."

Adrien rolled out of bed obediently, heading for his backpacking pack to grab a change of clothes and his toothbrush and comb. He wished there was time to shower because he felt gross from the time spent on the plane, but that would have to wait. Marinette was definitely slower on the uptake, groaning her way out of bed. By the time Adrien had gotten into the bathroom, Marinette was only just rolling out.

With Mrs. Cheng hurrying them along, it didn't take long for the two of them to get ready and head out to the hallway to wait for the others. Master Fu and Nino were already there and waiting for them.

"Hey, the Snooze Room made it!" Nino joked as they joined him. "Now we're just waiting on the Shower Room."

Adrien blinked, puzzled. "The what now?"

"Chloe apparently couldn't stand to smell like an airport for another minute, so she hopped in the shower right away," Nino reported. "And then had to get her makeup back on, of course. And then Alya apparently thought it would be a great idea to freshen up, too."

Adrien couldn't help but grin. "And you know this how? Were you and Alya just texting back and forth all afternoon?"

"Only a little bit! We were trying to coordinate dinner. Besides, she only has Chloe to talk to when they're in their room."

They only had a few minutes to wait before Chloe and Alya emerged from their room. Alya's hair was still damp, but Chloe's looked like it had been blow-dried. She looked almost annoyingly fresh, even after presumably not having gotten any sleep since arriving at the hotel. Master Fu smiled at them and then led the way towards the entrance, the rest of them following. Adrien took the opportunity to glance around at the hotel, noting the narrow halls and old carpet.

It wasn't exactly the kind of place that Adrien would have thought Chloe would go for at all- and that wasn't to say that it was a seedy hotel at all. It was a rather nice place, if perhaps a bit generic, but Chloe didn't generally go for _nice_ or _generic_. She usually went for fancy and one-of-a-kind, based on what he had seen in all of the vacation photos she had shown him over the years.

The fact that Chloe had decided to share a room was also a bit of a surprise. As far as Adrien could tell, the adults hadn't even had a hand in that decision.

"We found a nice place to eat while we were out shopping," Fu reported as they left the building. "The locals recommend it highly, but the prices aren't ridiculous, just as requested."

Adrien blinked and glanced over at Chloe. _Just as requested?_ Who had made the request? Chloe looked satisfied, which suggested that she had been the one to ask for reasonable prices, which was... unlike her. Chloe _enjoyed_ high-class, expensive dishes. Even if she was the one who would be paying for all of it, he wouldn't have thought she would be bothered by the cost. Her father was plenty able to pay, after all.

Maybe Pollen had said something about it being smart to save money or at least to spend wisely. She was the only one Chloe really seemed to listen to. Adrien wasn't going to say anything, though. He didn't want Chloe to get defensive and spend a ridiculous amount of money just to try to prove something.

Their group attracted a few stares as they headed up the street. Adrien couldn't blame the locals- after all, they were a group of mostly teens with a variety of heritages, led by a tiny Tibetan man in a Hawaiian-print t-shirt. He tried to hide in the middle of the group, just in case anyone recognized him.

(Adrien was pretty sure that his father's influence didn't extend here, but he wasn't willing to take any chances. After all, the news had more of an eye on him than usual these days, and if something got out, Nathalie was sure to hear about it.)

(It would be _very_ hard to do any damage control from several countries away if that happened.)

Chloe's nose wrinkled as Master Fu led them into what looked like a bit of a hole-in-the-wall restaurant, but she didn't make any comments about the location. He got them all seated, and a waiter brought menus to pass around. Master Fu thanked him and cheerfully started to flip through his. The rest of them just stared down at the menus, exchanging looks.

The first problem: they couldn't read it. Apparently it was written entirely in Tibetan, with no Mandarin translation.

"I don't know what any of this is," Chloe complained loudly after a few seconds of flipping through the menu. "How am I supposed to find something I like to eat?"

Master Fu didn't look bothered as he glanced up. "Well, I would say that most everything on the menu would be tasty, but I know not everyone is as fond of the local flavors as I am. Now, Pollen-"

There was a flash of yellow as Pollen shot out of Chloe's bag and zipped over to Master Fu, hiding from the wait staff's view by hovering by his shoulder. The two of them perused through the menu, Pollen nodding or shaking her head as Master Fu pointed to different things. Next to Adrien, Marinette perked up.

"Oh! Tikki!" Marinette hissed, opening her little purse and peering inside. "Can you read the menu for me?"

Kwamis emerged all around the table as everyone else caught on. Adrien leaned closer to Marinette so he could hear Tikki as well since Plagg didn't seem interested in emerging and being helpful. Tikki was translating for Marinette, explaining the dishes in more detail whenever she or Adrien indicated interest in something.

Ordering was just as much as an ordeal. Even with the kwamis whispering the names in their ears, their pronunciation was by and large atrocious. Master Fu ended up being their go-between to make sure they all got what they wanted, and both their table and their waitress breathed a sigh of relief when it was over.

"I must admit, I'm looking forward to when we start camping," Master Fu said with a bit of a laugh as he sat back in his seat. "It's much more straightforward to cook our own food, even if that cooking _is_ done over a camp stove or a fire."

Adrien grinned eagerly. He had already been warned that the food they would make on the stove wouldn't be fancy at all, but he thought it would be fun. Across the table, Chloe didn't look nearly as enthused at the thought.

"So, what stories did everyone tell people about why they're gone?" Nino asked as they waited for their food. "I know I told my parents that I was going to be on a trip with Marinette and Adrien and Alya. And Mrs. Cheng, of course," he added. "I didn't say _where_ , and I maybe played up the getting Adrien away from the reporters."

"Same," Alya chimed in. "And I know Marinette and Mrs. Cheng didn't have to lie to anyone."

Master Fu chuckled. "I didn't have to lie to anyone either. I simply said that I would be visiting my home country for an undecided number of weeks. My customers were quite understanding."

"And you all know that I told Nathalie that Marinette and her mom invited me along to visit family," Adrien chimed in. "I'm still astounded that she didn't insist on the Gorilla coming along."

All eyes turned to Chloe. She looked up from inspecting her nails and rolled her eyes. "What?"

"We're wondering what you told your father," Adrien prodded. "So we know what kind of answers he'll be expecting and from who when we get back."

"I told him that I was going on a trip with Adrikins to get him away from the media, of course," Chloe told them, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "I didn't say where, and I didn't tell him that we were hauling a whole bunch of other people with, but I _did_ say that poor Adrien's accounts were all frozen so we would be paying, of course. And he would assume that we would be flying first class, of course, and staying in the finest hotels and eating at the best restaurants. He's not as likely to notice if I go with middling hotels and eateries. Not that he'll ever look at the charges anyway, but just in case."

That was actually quite smart of Chloe, Adrien had to admit. Her father wouldn't look at the charges and immediately think _seven people_ were responsible for them. For once, Chloe's expensive tastes worked to their advantage.

"And he'll be busy for a chunk of the trip," Chloe added. "He's got a whole bunch of meetings with different people- _important_ people, of course- about policy stuff, and then there's some important diplomats staying at the hotel in two weeks, so he'll be busy entertaining them."

"I would have thought that you would want to be there for that," Alya commented. Her camera had come out and she was snapping photos of the restaurant. "Don't you like meeting all of the diplomats and famous people?"

Chloe sniffed. "Not the old dusty ones. I only care when it's people like Price Ali. Or _properly_ famous people, like Jagged Stone. And I figured it would make sense for us to leave shortly after Mr. Agreste's trial wrapped up instead of waiting. I hadn't expected them to drag the decision out for _quite_ so long, though. I thought there would be about half a week between the decision and us leaving, not one day."

They were gaping at her. Alya, though, was frowning in confusion. "Wait, why wait until the trial was over? Why not just leave before?"

"The police might have wanted to talk to Adrien again," Marinette pointed out. "Or they might have called him back into court for another round of testifying. They might have been fine with him not being available, but Mr. Agreste might have wondered what was up." The rest of her sentence- _and he might mention it to Mrs. Agreste later on_ \- went unsaid.

"Yes, yes, I suppose that might have been important, too," Chloe sniffed, waving a hand airily. "But it was so that reporters would see Adrien out and about after the verdict, so they couldn't start rumors that he was hiding away out of shame. But there wouldn't be enough time for them to really get much of a chance to bother him. It's a delicate balance. I wouldn't expect you to understand."

...well, okay. Adrien had honestly thought that Chloe had just chosen a date at random. He hadn't realized that she had been keeping an ear open to catch when his father's trial and sentencing would most likely be over. She hadn't said _anything_.

"And your dad was okay with you spending the money?" Mrs. Cheng asked. Adrien was sure that she had asked it before, probably every time Chloe pulled out her (well, her father's) credit card to pay for something.

Chloe waved off the question. "Of course. He insisted that I cover most of the costs because Adrien shouldn't have to."

"Won't he get suspicious when you suddenly stop spending money in the middle of the trip?"

Chloe didn't look at all bothered by the question. "Of course not. Why would he even check that? It's not like I would spend too much."

Now Alya was looking a bit dubious as well. "Right, but what about when he suddenly stops getting texts and emails from you because we've gone out of cell tower range? The first thing he's gonna turn to is the credit cards to see where you were last, and then we're going to have a manhunt after us and a ruckus in Paris."

Adrien was about to get worried- Alya was right, and even as distracted as Chloe's father could be sometimes he would notice if he hadn't gotten any texts from his beloved daughter for a couple days- when Chloe rolled her eyes. "I already thought of that and I bought a satellite sleeve for my phone. I can text Daddy whenever I want, so he won't even bother checking my spending. I can't do photos with it, but that's fine. He probably won't even notice."

Adrien wondered if Nathalie knew about extensions like that. Something told him probably not, considering that she hadn't bought _him_ a satellite sleeve for his phone despite not being pleased about the possibility of him being out of reach.

"I know how to keep Daddy off of my trail," Chloe finished with a sniff. " _I_ won't be the one causing problems. The question is, are the rest of you so positive that _you_ aren't going to make _your_ families suspicious?"


	3. Chapter 3

Alya couldn't help but be just a little disappointed with her first few hours in another country. She had thought that it would feel rather monumental, a huge shift somehow, like another world altogether. Instead it felt rather _normal_ , with the exception of everything being in a completely different language.

It was probably just the exhaustion talking. Alya _hoped_ that it was just the exhaustion talking. She hadn't been able to take in the landscape, maybe, and they had spent most of their time so far at the hotel. Maybe it was just that they were in a city, where influences from all over the world meshed together with the traditional culture and diluted it a bit.

Their first full day in Tibet- to be more specific, in the city of Lhasa- was spent doing more shopping. Master Fu dragged them from store to store, stocking up on all of the things they would need, never buying enough in one place to raise _too_ many eyebrows. Alya tagged along, taking pictures of some of the products that she wasn't familiar with. Nino came along as well to help, while Chloe stayed back in their hotel to use the computer in the lobby. Adrien and Marinette stayed back as well, mostly because Adrien had gotten a severe case of altitude sickness. Marinette hadn't been hit _quite_ as hard, but she had been affected by the change as well.

"We'll get some good tea that might help them," Fu told them as they headed down the street. "And this will be our last bit of shopping for the day. We should rest up and drink plenty of liquids so that we don't get sick as well."

Alya couldn't help but sigh. _Rest up_ meant more time spent cooped up in the hotel. She would rather explore, but Master Fu probably knew best. She didn't want to get sick like Adrien had. It didn't look like it was pleasant.

Just to be on the safe side, Alya adjusted her baseball hat and took a swig from her water bottle.

They were loaded down with bags by the time they returned to the hotel for the day. Master Fu had insisted on making several trips and going to several different grocery stores, just so the check-out clerks wouldn't question the piles of food for the both the kwamis and the humans, which meant several rounds of going to and from the hotel to drop off their previous purchases.

"I'd question the amount of food, but there _are_ seven of us and we're going to be out there for a bit," Nino said as they edged down the narrow hallway to their rooms. "Hiking always makes people hungrier. Plus we have to power the kwamis."

"It's second-rate food," Duusu said grumpily, popping out of Nino's hat and flying down to inspect the bags. "Not as good as the fresh stuff. But I suppose it will have to do."

"Well, Pollen still gets her honey," Trixx pointed out. Alya felt her hair being ruffled as Trixx rolled around in it. "And Wayzz gets his tea and some veggies. But the rest of us get second-string food."

Master Fu sighed. "It entirely depends on how difficult your foods are to carry. And Pollen isn't getting honeycombs or the quality honey she likes best. We got the teddy bear variety, since it's cheaper and isn't in glass containers. And tea is easy to carry around."

There was a distinct huff from Duusu. Apparently he still wasn't mollified.

As they unloaded their bags, Alya was deeply grateful that they would be hiking with magic. There was absolutely no _way_ they would be able to carry everything otherwise, not without a pack horse or something.

"So do you want to hang out in my room or do you want to go see how the invalids are?" Nino asked once everything was set out and organized. Master Fu and Sabine had retreated to the desk to go over their plans, leaving the teens alone. "I'm guessing you don't want to hang out with Chloe."

"Probably not, no," Alya agreed. Even if sharing a room with Chloe was surprisingly not too bad (bathroom hogging and complaining about the "cheap dryer sheets" used on the hotel's towels and sheets aside, of course), she didn't exactly want to hang out with the other girl more than necessary. After all, they would be spending something like two or three weeks together as they hiked out to the temple. "Let's check on Adrien and Marinette. They're probably crazy bored."

The two of them headed down the hall, passing a couple other guests coming in the opposite direction. Nino glanced at Alya and Chloe's door as they passed.

"So, what's it like sharing a room with Chloe? I bet you'd rather share with Marinette."

Alya couldn't deny that. Still, at the moment sharing a room with Marinette meant sharing a room with Adrien as well, since they were all too willing to share a bed and _somebody_ had to while they were staying in the hotels. It wasn't as though they got up to anything while sharing a bed but, well, Alya wasn't _nearly_ as comfortable with sharing a room with a guy as Marinette was. "She's behaving so far. I mean, we're getting along all right."

Hopefully that would continue. After all, they had several more nights of staying in hotels before they would split off into tent camping, and their current way of splitting people up into rooms was the most efficient, considering that there were an odd number of them. It would be different when they were camping, since Master Fu and Chloe both had brought their own personal tent and Sabine would have a tent to herself as well while the four remaining Miraculous holders split two tents.

And by that Alya meant that she would be sharing with Marinette and Nino would be sharing with Adrien, since while Marinette's parents were fine with her sharing a room (or a tent, or a bed) with Adrien, the same could not be said about Alya's parents regarding Nino. Or Nino's parents regarding Alya, too, probably.

Nino knocked on Adrien and Marinette's door. It took a minute for Marinette to answer, yawning as she did.

"Are you two fit for company?" Alya asked, peering inside. She could see Adrien curled up on the bed, watching something on the TV and looking more than a little checked out. "We're done shopping for the day."

"Sure, but we're not gonna be very active." Marinette glanced over at Adrien. "I don't know how the rest of you aren't affected. I feel all _ugh_."

"That's not going to be fun when we're traveling in the car for hours. Master Fu said that a lot of the roads are curvy." Nino was giving Adrien a supremely nervous look. Clearly he didn't trust Adrien not to get sick. "Are y'all going to be better tomorrow?"

"I _hope_ so," Adrien grumbled, looking for all the world like a grumpy kitten as he snuggled under a blanket. "I don't like having to sit around. And it's gonna be a problem if we're too sick to hike. But Mrs. Cheng _did_ say that it should wear off within a day or two as we get used to the altitude."

While Nino and Adrien watched TV and made up stories to go along with the scenes they couldn't understand (apparently Adrien had chosen a channel that was using Tibetan instead of Mandarin for some strange reason), Alya showed Marinette the pictures she had taken. She explained what they were of, and Trixx piped up with stories related to what was in the pictures.

"-and so they planted all of these seeds and managed to persuade one of the older students to cast a spell around the area to protect the seeds from the harsh winters," Trixx finished up. "And it worked, though that student wasn't the best at spellwork. So the trees sprouted, and they took care of them for maybe five years before they kind of gave up the project. They ended up leaving a year or two after that, leaving the fruit trees behind. So maybe ten years after _that_ , one of the Guardians stumbled across this little fruit grove and the whole Council spent _ages_ puzzling over how it could have gotten started. It had started bearing fruit by that point, too."

"Did they keep it?" Marinette asked.

"Oh yes! Of course! There was no point in cutting it down. In fact, they were in the middle of expanding it when the temples were destroyed."

"Did they ever find out how it had gotten started?" Alya asked. Her camera lay by her side, momentarily forgotten. "I mean, you know, so-"

"Oh, I never told them," Trixx started, sniggering. "In fact, I quite enjoyed-"

He was cut off by a shout of laughter from the boys.

" _No_ , Nino, that's _not_ what they're saying," a thoroughly exasperated Duusu was telling Nino and Adrien. The boys were snickering. "That's not what's going on at _all!_ Plagg, tell them-"

Plagg yawned. "You assume that I care," he told Duusu. "So, Nino- what were you saying happened next?"

 

* * *

 

They got off to an early start, checking out of the hotel at a ridiculous hour in the morning and piling themselves, their bags, and all of their food into Master Fu's friends' cars. Marinette had managed to largely recover from her altitude sickness during the night, but Adrien was still not feeling great and therefore got the front passenger seat so that he would be less likely to get carsick as well.

(There was also the additional bonus that he would then more easily be able to signal the driver if he needed to pull over in case Adrien _did_ get sick.)

Mrs. Cheng stuck with Adrien and Marinette so she could ply them with stomach-settling teas, leaving the rest of the Miraculous holders to pile into the second car. Chloe claimed the front seat, leaving Alya pouting.

 _She_ had wanted to be up front, darn it. The back seat wasn't the greatest angle for taking pictures. Still, there was no point in being sour about it. Maybe once Adrien was feeling better then she would be able to sit up front and get a better view of everything.

And boy oh boy, was there ever a lot to take pictures of.

Large lakes. Rolling meadows. Towering mountains. Dark forests. And that wasn't even including the towns that they drove through, ones that had more of the native culture prominent. The roads curved and wound through amazing settings, and Alya had her camera at the ready for all of it.

She couldn't wait to start hiking, truth be told. She wanted to get out, wanted to stretch her legs, wanted to get up close and personal with the land. Hiking had been something that she did with her parents on a fairly regular basis before Ella and Etta were born and she _missed_ it.

(Alya was also very tired of _sitting_. They had sat on the plane, they had sat in the airports, and now they were sitting in the car for hours on end. It was a relief to stop at rest stations, just so she could jump out and walk around. Their driver didn't seem impressed by the number of times that they asked to stop for a break but, well, what did he expect? They couldn't just _sit_ for hours and hours on end, that was ridiculous.)

By the time dusk had fallen and they finally pulled into the parking lot of a hotel, they had been on the road for an _insane_ amount of time and the charm had largely worn off for the day. None of them were really used to being in cars for more than a couple hours at a time and, well...

They had definitely spent more than a _couple hours_ in the car that day, and they would be doing the same for the next two days (and then some) as well. Alya (and Adrien, and Marinette, and Nino) had asked if there was any other option- a train, perhaps?- to speed up the trip and keep them from being confined to a car, but there were no trains where they were going. Besides, traveling by car would be less conspicuous. There weren't a whole lot of tourists heading to the part of the region that they were headed for, and if they were to travel by train then they would stick out even more.

"Wait, but won't your friends figure us out, then?" Alya demanded that evening as they ate in Nino and Master Fu's room. The two drivers had dropped them off and then headed off to spend the night with some relatives who lived in the area. "If we succeed, then we'll need to be transformed on the car ride back unless you have another friend who's willing to drive tucked away somewhere."

Master Fu chucked. "No, I don't have any more driver friends hidden up my sleeves," he told her, smiling. "But these friends of mine- they're not just random people. They're descendants of Miraculous holders, where the Miraculous was just passed down from parent to child after the temple fell. They tracked me down and turned their Miraculous over because they thought it would be irresponsible to hold on to it when there were no wars or anything else to fight. I kept in touch because, well, if something _were_ to pop up in their area, they would likely want to take up their family's mantle again. They know that it's important to keep identities secret, so they won't say a word. And they have no reason to come to Paris, so they'll never see you again after this trip."

Alya perked up for a moment- their drivers might have stories about other Miraculous? Fabulous!- before remembering that _oh, right, they don't speak French_. She would have to beg Adrien or Mrs. Cheng or Master Fu to translate for her. She would have to keep the stories to herself, of course- it would be irresponsible and dangerous to share them online, not to mention her parents would wonder where she was getting her information when she was _meant_ to be hanging out with Marinette's family in an entirely different part of China- but she wanted to learn either way. On top of being interesting, it would also speed the car ride up a bit by making it not so _boring_.

Of course, that depended on if people would be were willing to do that for her. She was sure that they would be willing to do _some_ translation, of course, but they would probably want to have their own conversations or- in Adrien's case- he might want to take a nap with Marinette curled into his side. Apparently that was what the couple had spent a large portion of the first day of travel doing, which... _boring_.

They all split up pretty quickly once dinner had been finished, which meant that Alya was left alone with Chloe. The other girl promptly headed into the bathroom, and Alya couldn't hold back a sigh.

 _Of course._ It wasn't that Alya wanted to shower or have a heart-to-heart with Chloe, but she _had_ hoped to get washed up and into bed at a reasonable time since they would be starting out so early the next day. That wouldn't be possible now, since Chloe had to shower and then blow-dry her hair and then would probably wash up, all before Alya could even set foot in the bathroom.

Yeah, being in a different country was _definitely_ not turning out as magical as she had thought.

 

* * *

 

Day Two of their journey dawned bright and early-

Actually, that was a lie. It dawned _grey_ and early. Rain poured down from the sky, tapping against the glass of the windows of first their room, then the car. Little streams formed in the ditches alongside the road, muddy and sluggish.

Alya sighed and propped her elbow against the window again as she stared outside. The scenery was mostly obscured by the falling rain, and what she could see was turned grey by the rain and clouds. Her left leg was starting to seriously cramp up from being in the same position for hours, thanks to the lack of leg room in the car. Next to her, Nino munched on a granola bar, their substitution for lunch. The car was a bit on the warm side too, and humid.

Like being in another country, Alya had always pictured superhero missions- especially top-secret rescue missions like the one they were on- to be a bit more glamorous. Part of her wanted to just not count this part of the trip- after all, they _were_ still getting to their starting point- but Alya suspected that she should maybe keep her expectations lower than they had been. After all, the hiking days would be long and hard, there would be bad weather and blisters and food that wasn't cooked through. It wouldn't just be gorgeous scenery and magic and following what was essentially a high-stakes treasure hunt through the wilderness.

Honestly, the akuma fights had been _much_ more glamorous, despite how much Adrien and Marinette grumbled about them being inconvenient. At least then they had been able to use their superpowers then and there was no _hours_ -long car rides.

"The fields always smell so nice after a rain," Trixx piped up from where he was nested in Alya's hair. "And I love sliding around on the grass! It's too bad we can't get out for a bit."

"I love splashing around in the rain!" Duusu agreed, peering out of Nino's bag. "It's so fun! My Chosens always complain about it for some reason, but I don't mind the wet."

Chloe made a disgusted noise from her seat up front. Pollen giggled.

"I don't think we can even do any of the car games I normally do with my little cousin," Nino said after a further few minutes. " _I spy_ doesn't work because everything is grey or green-"

"And it's all trees or mountains and how are you supposed to guess which one of _those_ is the one the other person is thinking of?" Alya chimed in.

"And then the alphabet game won't work because, uh." Nino gestured around them. "...well, there's no signs, and then the ones we see don't exactly use our alphabet."

" _And_ they're kid games," Chloe sniffed. " _Boring_."

Alya hastily quashed the urge to murder Chloe, who had gone right back to playing games on her phone. The other girl had been... well, better than usual about not grumbling too much about the state of the cars (both older than they themselves were) or how cramped the hotel rooms were ( _very_ ), but Chloe's _better_ wasn't necessarily anyone else's _good_. The complaining was still annoying, and she had had to put up with most of it.

"Well, they're better than nothing," Nino pointed out. "Or they _would_ be, if we could play them. Do you have any better ideas?"

Chloe did not. Alya shook her head when Nino turned to her in silent question. She played games with her sisters in the car, of course, but they played the same games that Nino had already mentioned or they pulled something out of their car bag that their mother packed. This time, there was no car bag.

Besides, she was pretty certain that _coloring books_ wouldn't keep three teenagers as amused as they kept two squirrely kids, even if they _did_ have them along.

"D'you think that Master Fu or Mrs. Cheng will come over to our car at our next stop?" Nino asked after several minutes had passed. "Like, do you think they'll be done with whatever conversation they wanted to have?"

"Who knows," Chloe grumbled. "Maybe you can ask them to switch with you two, then you can hang out with Adrien and Marinette like I _know_ you want to."

Alya perked up- that sounded _great_ , actually- but Nino frowned. "But then it'll just be you alone with the adults."

"Yeah, so?" Chloe shot a bored look over her shoulder at them. "I'll just play games on my phone, just like I do when it's you two in here. It doesn't matter to me."

Alya and Nino exchanged a look and shrugged. If Chloe was sure, then. "Okay. We'll do that, then." It would be fun to get to spend more time with Adrien and Marinette. The two of them seemed attached at the hip and unwilling to separate, but Alya could understand why. Adrien had gone through a lot with his father and now had to be concerned about if their current quest would work (and what would happen if it did), and Marinette had been by his side for all of it, before the rest of them even knew what was going on. Even if he and Nino had been friends for longer, Ladybug and Chat Noir had been through more together. Of course he was going to be a little clingy.

Alya would be worried about what that would mean for his and Marinette's relationship in the long run, but she knew that the clinging wouldn't last. After all, he and Marinette had been fairly normal around each other for a period, after the sting of his father's arrest died away a bit and before planning for this trip had really hit crunch time. He only got like this when he was stressed out.

Two hours later, they finally pulled into a gas station parking lot to refuel and take a short break. They all piled out to use the bathrooms- cramped, dingy ones that also had no place in Alya's fantasies about what superhero missions were like- and then she and Nino joined Adrien and Marinette in their car, while the adults went to the other car.

"Oh, _this_ is better," Alya said immediately, settling into the passenger side seat. Adrien had promised her that he was feeling better and didn't need it anymore, so she had gotten to move up front. Now she had a proper view of the scenery, even if it _was_ still rainy and grey. "I was getting tired of dealing with Chloe's comments. So, what have you guys been up to?"

Marinette snorted a laugh. "Uh, nothing? We've been stuck in the car just like you. I mean, we got to overhear all of the plans _again_ for what we're doing between now and when we start our hike, but other than that, they've mostly been chatting with the driver."

Alya perked up. They knew the plan? _Fabulous_. "So what did they say? Anything new? I just remember the vague details, because they told us stuff _forever_ ago."

That got a laugh out of Adrien. "Yeah, I think you were a bit distracted by the details about the magic to remember the normal stuff. We'll be staying at the other driver's- Tenzin's- family's house the last night before we get driven to our starting point, and we'll be leaving any extra stuff there, if we brought something that we won't need or use on the hike, and repack."

Alya sent a slightly dubious look at her bag, just barely visible in the rear end of the car. All of them had packed light to start- well, with the _possible_ exception of Chloe, but Adrien and Marinette _had_ helped her with that bit- so for the most part they only had a couple things that could be left behind. Maybe they would mostly be looking to make sure that there were no unnecessary repeats of certain supplies or something.

She hadn't even brought her laptop, since she would only be able to use it for _maybe_ four days on the trip.

"Master Fu will put all of the food and camping supplies in this giant backpack that he brought along, and then he'll transform with it on," Marinette added. "That will vanish the second he transforms, so we won't have to worry about it until we're done walking for the day. Then all of the other bags will just get piled into his shell, so we only _really_ need to carry our small backpacks during the day."

Alya couldn't help but be relieved by the reminder. Her backpacking pack was comfortable to wear, but only to a point. It would be _much_ more fun to just be able to hike without it weighing her down. She could just stick her camera in her pocket and her water bottle in its holder strapped around her waist and be set to go for hours on end.

"Master Fu told us that it'll be slow going once we start hiking- and surely you remember _that_ part- _no?_ " Adrien asked incredulously when Alya just shook her head a bit sheepishly. Apparently she had just been too enthralled by the magic they would be dealing with to remember everything else. "Really? I thought you were super into the whole treasure-hunt style thing we'll have to do!"

"Oh, right! I remember _that._ " Master Fu _had_ warned them that it would be slow going, she remembered now. It was because Mr. Agreste hadn't left coordinates to guide them on their trip to the temple, and instead they would have to travel along old, overgrown trails, using landmarks to guide them. Alya had thought that it would add to the mystery and general ambiance of the trip, while most of the others wished that they didn't have to travel all on foot. They wanted to have GPS coordinates that they could just transform and race to, which would be faster- that was fair enough- but charging ahead was the opposite of what Alya wanted to do. She wanted to take the time to take in the scenery around her. There was no way that she would want to charge ahead just to shorten this once-in-a-lifetime trip.

...well, unless there was bad weather. Then she wouldn't be able to wait until the day was done and she could dry out or warm up around a fire. Would they even travel if the conditions were bad? It could keep them from seeing the landmarks that the elder Agrestes had talked about, or could make the kwamis sick.

It was just now occurring to Alya that she _really_ didn't know what to expect for a lot of their journey. Normally she would ask _way_ more questions and know _exactly_ what was up. This time, she had been too enamored with being out of the country and with having a _secret superhero mission_ to really put her investigator hat on. She didn't know how long the journey would be (the amount of food bought surprisingly didn't give her any clues; with the number of them making the trip plus the kwamis, it was hard to estimate how much food would be consumed in one day).

"Anyway, then we'll be hiking for forever to find the temple, and then trying the spell Master Fu found," Adrien finished. "And then we'll be transformed coming back either- either way," he swallowed hard, then refocused. "So we can go faster and just follow the GPS line coming back. We'll still have to go over certain mountain passes, but we can do a more straight-line route instead of trying to find a certain oddly shaped boulder or whatever."

Part of Alya wanted to be disappointed by what was essentially a cheat, but she suspected that she would probably be tiring of hiking at that point anyway, and they might be running short on food.

"Uh, what's the approximate time frame on ' _for forever_ '?" Nino asked. He shrugged when both Adrien and Marinette turned appalled looks on him. "I know, I know, I should have asked before, or listened better, but..."

To the best of my recollection, the trip from the point Master Fu spoke of to the temple took approximately two weeks," Duusu told them, and Alya would have laughed at how comically huge Nino's eyes got if her own hadn't flown open as well. _Two weeks?_ That was a _lot_ of hiking. She had been thinking one week, maybe, plus some rest-slash-rain days.

...okay, she could _maybe_ see the appeal in charging ahead and taking shortcuts. Still, she would get to spend plenty of time with her friends and have some time away from her little sisters for a change. That was a major plus. She could interview Master Fu, even if she wouldn't be able to put any of the information about the Miraculous up on her blog. She would get to hike again, something she had missed doing ever since the twins were born and her parents could no longer take her out on backpacking trips.

Sure, two weeks- two weeks in _one direction_ , no less- was a long time, but she would survive it, she was sure. She would definitely get a lot of amazing photos on this trip, that was for sure.

They just had to get properly started first.

 

* * *

 

By the time they pulled into the driveway of Master Fu's friend's house at the end of their third full day of driving, all of them were tired, hungry, and more than a little cranky from the long drive. Adrien popped out of the car after Marinette, wincing and rolling his head to try to get rid of the crick that had developed while he was napping with his head propped up against Marinette's.

Almost as soon as they were all out and vaguely milling their way around to the trunks of the cars, Tenzin's wife had popped out through the door. She beamed at them and waved, then called something.

"She said to come inside soon, dinner is nearly ready," Adrien translated around a yawn. "And that she's happy we made it safely."

"Yay, food," Marinette managed, equally groggy. She had tried napping as well, but she had never been great at falling completely asleep while in the car. The best she could manage were short little snatches of sleep, too short to even be called cat-naps. She rather felt like she had walked straight into a wall at the moment, but the cool night air was slowly waking her up again. "I could use some proper food. I ate too many crackers in the car."

"And I need cheese!" Plagg popped out of Adrien's jacket. "I haven't gotten enough these past few days, and I know you're going to be _starving_ me while we're traveling out, so I demand piles tonight."

Adrien sighed, familiar exasperation making Marinette grin. "We won't be starving you. You're just getting a slightly more restricted diet since we won't be able to go shopping if we run low on supplies. And I won't be transformed most of the way out. You'll be _fine_."

"And you can forage while we're hiking," Wayzz told Plagg. "There should be _some_ things you can eat out there. Fresh mushrooms, for example."

Plagg made a face. "Mushrooms are no Camembert. I like _Camembert_. And you packed _dried_ mushrooms for me! Dried mushrooms!"

"You used to eat mushrooms all the time without complaint," Tikki reminded Plagg as Adrien and Marinette accepted their backpacks from Palijor, who was emptying the trunk. "And it isn't for long. Besides, there's no Camembert in Tibet."

"Or if there is, it's _crazy_ expensive," Mrs. Cheng chimed in. " _And_ hard to find. It wouldn't last on the trail, either."

Marinette caught sight of Adrien's slight grin. He had decided to keep the cheese that they _had_ bought and packed a secret for now, telling Plagg that they had only gotten mushrooms for him instead. Some of it was for their own cooking, of course, but some of the chunks of hard cheddar and Tibetian cheese were marked for Plagg. They weren't going to tell Plagg for a few days, mostly because it would be fun to surprise and delight him later on in their trip.

They just had to hope that Plagg wouldn't snoop ahead of time.

"That was _then_ , when I didn't know that there was anything better," Plagg was retorting. "And then I tried cheese, and I was _enlightened_. And now _I_ , a _god_ , have to stoop down to lesser foods!"

"All of us had to make compromises on our food, Plagg," Duusu said with a sigh. "Perishables can't be brought out on the trail. You remember that from your days in the field, surely?"

Plagg just grumbled. Marinette suspected that he was really missing his weekly baked cheese bread bowls right now. She had promised to make him extras to make up for the missed ones once they got home, but that was several weeks out.

They all piled into the house like a sleepy zombie hoard. Tenzin's wife, Dema, pointed them to their rooms- the girls in one room, the boys in another- so they could drop off their bags, and then they crowded in around the dining table. It clearly wasn't intended for ten people, but they made it work. For once, Chloe managed to look actually grateful when Dema passed her a plate of unfamiliar food. She took her plate and ate without comment.

Maybe she was actually learning. Or maybe Pollen was hidden in Chloe's hoodie and had threatened to sting if she was rude to their host.

Washing up took a while, since there was only one bathroom plus the kitchen sink. While they waited for the boys (plus Master Fu) to finish up, the girls set up their room, pulling out sleeping pads and sleeping bags and claiming a corner of the room to sleep in.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, Chloe's sleeping pad was the thickest and widest, clearly fancy and expensive. Also to the surprise of absolutely no one, she wasn't thrilled with it.

"It's too close to the ground," Chloe muttered as she set it up along the wall. An equally fancy sleeping bag was next out of her backpack, fluffed, and arranged on top of the sleeping pad. "Too _narrow_ , not soft enough. At least I came prepared."

Marinette almost choked when Chloe pulled out a smaller stuff sack and tugged what looked like sheets out. The label on the bag read _100% silk_. Clearly Chloe planned on camping in as much comfort as she could muster and because they weren't actually carrying the bags, she could do that.

"It takes a couple days to get used to it," Alya told Chloe, though Marinette could detect a note of exasperation in her tone. "And you got a nice pad. It'll be more comfortable than most."

Chloe just scowled and stuffed the sheets into the sleeping bag before reaching back in and pulling out a pillow, carefully sealed away in a large plastic bag. Marinette had told Chloe to remove her pillow, just like she had told Adrien, but clearly Chloe had decided to ignore her advice. Marinette glanced from that to her own 'pillow', aka a pile of her fleeces and clean clothes stuffed into a pillowcase. Beside her, Alya had done the same thing.

Well, at least it would work just as well as Chloe's proper pillow, and if anything got wet during the day (or at night), then coats would be easier to dry.

"I can't wait to start properly," Alya told Marinette after they had gotten all washed up and were settling into their sleeping bags. Her eyes were shining with excitement. "It's going to be great! What kinds of things do you think we'll see?"

Marinette shrugged. Sure, she might have sat through most of the planning meetings, just because they happened in her house and because Tikki and Plagg often needed to be consulted, but there wasn't really much discussion about the non-magic things outside of the logistics of their travel. "Mountains, I guess? Hidden lakes? I don't know what kinds of animals there are. You should ask Adrien about that. I think he was looking it up at some point."

"Or you could ask us kwamis," Trixx's tired voice came from beside Alya's pillow. "Since we spent even more time in this area than he did. But _later_ , when I'm not trying to sleep."

The two of them exchanged a giggly look as Chloe and Mrs. Cheng came back into the room, freshly washed up. "Well _someone_ needs her sleep," Marinette giggled. She wriggled into her sleeping bag further. Across the room, Chloe was sliding between the silk sheets in her sleeping bag and Sabine flicked off the light. "But I can't blame her. I'm about ready to fall flat on my face."

"Settle down, you two," Mrs. Cheng told them from across the room. "Does anyone need anything? Chloe, how's your sleeping pad?"

"Well, I suppose it _is_ a little bit better than those boards they called mattresses at that last hotel," Chloe said after a few moments. "It'll do."

"That's great," Mrs. Cheng told her. "I'm glad that you're happy with it. Now good-night, everyone. Sleep well, because we have a _long_ trip ahead of us."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay another chapter!
> 
> Alya's POV is pretty much what I felt when I first went to another country. It was exciting, yeah, but hardly something entirely new. She built it up in her head too much, which is really easy to do.
> 
> All Tibetian names were pretty much found via Google. If any of them are, ah, less than flattering/not accurate/etc, don't hesitate to let me know.


	4. Chapter 4

They got up at dawn yet again, and Marinette was still half-snoozing against Adrien's shoulder as they all piled back into the cars for one last short leg of the trip, to the start of their trail. Master Fu sat up front and gave instructions to Palijor in the lead car, guiding them to the spot where the instructions started. Two hours later, they were driving down a dirt side road that was curiously well-maintained.

"I see another car," Mrs. Cheng said, leaning forward over Master Fu's shoulder. "Up ahead there. You can see the dust trail."

"And there's another vehicle behind the second car," Master Fu added. "That is very curious indeed." He turned to Palijor and asked a question in Tibetian. He got a shrug in response. "I don't _think_ we've been followed, but it's possible that we won't be able to transform right away. We'll have to distribute our food and supplies as best we can among our packs and hike like normal."

They all frowned. "But the bags are so heavy," Mrs. Cheng objected. "You'll injure something before we even begin properly."

Master Fu appeared to contemplate that for a minute. "Wayzz can lend me some strength," he assured her after a minute. "It's perhaps more difficult than a full transformation, and can only be done for a limited amount of time, but then I should be able to shoulder my own pack, at least."

They all exchanged concerned looks but decided not to comment.

The car went around another bend, getting closer to their start, and suddenly the road opened up into a dirt parking lot. An outhouse stood at one end, and a bulletin board-style sign wasn't far from it. There were rustic wooden fences along the trees, and a few other signs as well.

"Just as I feared," Master Fu sighed. "The first part of our journey goes along _hiking trails_. The journals hinted at that, too. We'll have to hope that our paths diverge quickly. If we had known about this beforehand, I would have suggested a nighttime start, or perhaps heading out on a rainy day so that we wouldn't have company."

"Won't it look strange for us to have backpacking packs?" Marinette worried. The hikers she could see getting out of their car only had day packs, suggesting that the trail wasn't terribly long. "If we're already going to be calling attention to ourselves with those, wouldn't it make more sense to just transform in the car?"

Her mom and Master Fu exchanged a look. "Perhaps," Master Fu said after a moment. "I would rather not, as I don't want people knowing that we're in the area if we can avoid it, just for general safety reasons, but it may be necessary."

"I can check the boards and see if there's any longer trails in the area that would warrant backpacking," Mrs. Cheng suggested. "And if not, then we go with Marinette's plan?"

Master Fu nodded.

Marinette leaned over Adrien's lap to watch her mother cross the parking lot. worrying her lip as she did. This wasn't what she had expected. She had thought that they would pull up on the side of some small dirt road, pile out, and then spend ten minutes trying to find a small, forgotten trail winding through the trees or through a meadow.

The start of the hiking trail was _paved_.

"There are some trails that lead out to the backcountry," her mother reported, returning from the boards. "And reminders to people that if they're backpacking, to be sure to clean up after themselves and not leave obvious campsites."

Master Fu looked pleased.

As her mother headed over to the other car to tell them about their change in plans, Marinette and Adrien piled out of their car and headed around to the back to redistribute the food and cooking supplies. There was so much, and it wasn't only heavy but bulky, too.

"Are we sure we can't just have Chloe transform with this pack and then follow us in the air?" Adrien asked as they started moving bags of rice into the top of Adrien's pack. "Or- Master Fu, would one of your friends be willing to hike with us until we get past the other people and carry a bag? We can take some of the food and stuff out so it's not _as_ heavy, but then we'll not break our backs right away."

"I shall ask."

Thirty minutes later, bags had been rearranged, cars had been parked, and the eight of them- the seven French superheroes plus Tenzin- were heading for the trailhead. No new cars had come in recently, and they were taking advantage of the lull to start their hike.

Master Fu led the way, almost comically dwarfed by his large backpack. A faint green glow peeked out from the collar of his shirt from Wayzz's strength boost, mostly hidden by the backpack. It meant that he wasn't crumpling under the pack's weight, but it didn't really change the fact that Master Fu was _very_ old, very short, and not particularly fast. He also had a fair number of aches and pains that, while not being worsened by the backpack thanks to Wayzz's help, still were present.

At least it meant that she and Adrien weren't overexerting themselves and making their altitude sickness flare up again.

Since they were hiking so slowly, it wasn't long before they had to step to the side to let a pair of hikers pass. Marinette tried not to wince as their wide eyes took in the group of teens and the tiny form of Master Fu under the giant backpack. They nodded their greetings, then headed up the trail. Marinette caught a few glances back as the duo whispered to each other.

"I'm afraid that we're not getting anywhere terribly fast," Master Fu said after two hours had passed. His shoulders had started to bow under the weight of the backpack, and Marinette could tell that the green glow from Wayzz's strength-booster was fading quickly. They definitely hadn't gotten far enough up the trail to get away with transforming, which meant that they would probably have to sit down for a bit while Wayzz recharged.

Day One was not off to a great start.

"Mrs. Cheng, how far do we have to go before we reach where our path splits off of this?" Adrien asked. He was eying Master Fu's fading glow with concern. "Like, are we halfway, or almost there, or nowhere close...?"

Sabine pulled out the map she had picked up at the trail head and consulted it. Before they left the parking lot, she and Master Fu had marked on it which set of trails were the ones that looked like they would match up most closely with the instructions from the Agrestes' journal, just based on direction and estimated distance. "A little over halfway. Let's push for ten more minutes and then let Wayzz recharge, okay?"

"We can have lunch at the same time," Master Fu spoke up. "It will take a bit of time for Wayzz to recover his energy enough to do another strength-lending spell, so we might as well make the most of it."

Marinette nodded. Her stomach was starting to grumble, which made sense considering that they had eaten rather early. "Will we have to take another long break before you transform, too?"

"Not _quite_ as long. I've never understood why, but the strength-lending spells take even more out of the kwamis than even regular transformations do." Master Fu adjusted the straps on his shoulders as they headed up an incline. "It's quite an interesting paradox, really, considering that when transformed we're _also_ much stronger than we would be normally, but perhaps there's also a component of having to put out power for the spell while also reining it in enough to _not_ transform that makes it particularly tiring."

That made sense, Marinette supposed. It was like with knitting, sometimes- it would be easy to just go full-out and not worry about a pattern, but when she was working with a complex pattern, then she had to slow down and count and really think about what she was doing-

-and that was a really bad analogy, actually. It wasn't necessarily that much harder to do in that case, just slower.

By the time ten minutes had passed and they had found a series of flat rocks to sit on, Master Fu looked close to collapse. Marinette and Adrien hastily removed his backpack from his shoulders and set it down before the last of Wayzz's spell could wear off. Seconds later, the last of the faint green glow vanished and Wayzz spiraled dizzily into Master Fu's lap.

"How far do we have to go yet?" Wayzz managed, accepting the little vial of cool tea that Master Fu passed him. He downed it in one go and Master Fu refilled it. "Are we close to where we can just transform?"

"We'll have to go just as far again," Master Fu told him. Wayzz groaned, and Marinette blinked in surprise. She had never known Wayzz to be anything but mature and patient, so to see him behaving more like Plagg was new. "Or at least that is what we believe. It is hard to know."

Wayzz grumbled some more.

They all settled down on the rocks to eat, waving at a few more hikers that passed. They got stared at quite a bit by those hikers- apparently foreigners didn't often come to hike that particular trail, and if they did they didn't have an elderly man along with them- but otherwise, it was peaceful. Marinette practically inhaled the sandwich that she had prepared that morning before lying back on the rock and watching the clouds pass overhead. A weight settling on her hip several minutes later told her that Adrien had joined her in cloud watching.

"It's a nice day today, isn't it?" Tikki said, popping out of Marinette's backpack and joining them on the rock. "No wonder people are out and hiking! It's probably not half as busy later in the summer, when it gets hot. The waterfall might dry up a bit by then, too."

"There's a waterfall?" Marinette hadn't known that. "Will we pass it, do you think?"

Tikki thought about it. "We might see it from a distance, I think? I'm not sure. My holders almost never went on the trips to escort new children to the temple or bring those who weren't selected to stay back out, so I'm not as familiar with the trails. And they would have been transformed for much of the trip, of course, to be able to defend against any ambush attacks. People could be very jealous of those who were selected to train, you know."

It didn't take long for the rest of the group to finish their sandwiches, but then they had to wait for Wayzz to finish sipping at his fifteenth flute of tea. There was a bit of a droop to his antennae as he summoned up the strength spell again, but otherwise he seemed back in decent spirits again.

And then their slow hike resumed.

"I can hear the waterfall!" Marinette exclaimed thirty minutes later. "Do you think we'll see it soon?"

Alya perked up. "Waterfall? Let me get my camera!"

"We might be able to stop at the falls on the way back," Master Fu told them over his shoulder. "For now, we will have to do with glimpses. We should be splitting off onto our trail before we get to the waterfall."

Marinette sincerely doubted that they would stop on the way back- either they would have failed and would be in poor spirits, or they would have succeeded and would be in a hurry to get home- but she could understand why they weren't going _now_. It would take too much time- and they were already behind schedule to begin with- and Wayzz's boost would only last for so long. There would be other waterfalls on the way, probably, and if not, well...

They could always plan on a week-long outing to go see some of the waterfalls in France. It wasn't as thought Tibet had the monopoly on waterfalls, after all.

It didn't take long before they got their first good look at the falls. Alya let out an excited noise and whipped out her camera from her pocket, snapping photos left and right. Every time they went past a gap in the trees, Alya paused to take another shot. She let out a sound of disappointment when Master Fu steered them towards a path leading away from the waterfall trail.

"It says take the right path towards the valley upon reaching the cracked boulder," Sabine told them as they headed onto the narrower trail. Much to Marinette's surprise, this one was marked, too. "And then we take this trail for a while."

"It's the trail leading into the backcountry," Adrien translated, pointing to the sign they had passed. "So we still might run into other people, but it's not as likely. Madam Cheng, how far back do the backcountry trails go?"

Marinette glanced back to see her mother consult the map. "I don't know, dear. Only portions of the trails are shown on this map. It's possible that we'll be following some of these trails for another day or two."

All of the teens exchanged alarmed looks at that. "Another day or _two?_ "

"I would not go untransformed the entire way," Master Fu assured them from the front of their line. "Back here, there are few people. We can have the kwamis on guard to make sure we are aware of anyone who might be coming our way. If we do come across anyone, I can fly into the woods to hide until it's clear again. I think we should go just a bit further before I transform, though. Just to be safe."

They all breathed a sigh of relief. No one really wanted to deal with inching along behind Master Fu for much longer. Marinette knew that she was itching to actually _walk_ instead of just meandering, and Adrien was practically jiggling with restless energy.

"Ten more minutes, I think," Master Fu said fifteen minutes later. "Then it should be safe for me to transform, and Tenzin can return-"

He abruptly cut off as the narrow trail curved around a cluster of trees and a young couple came into sight. They raised a hand in greeting almost automatically, then froze, squinting almost as one at Master Fu. Almost immediately, concerned-sounding words started pouring out of their mouths.

"They're asking if we _really_ want to go out with Master Fu," Adrien translated for them as Mrs. Cheng and Tenzin headed to the front of the group to join the impromptu chat. "And that the hiking would be too tough for him, and he looks like he's about to be crushed by the bag."

"Well, they aren't wrong about him looking crushed," Chloe sniffed. "But they should keep their noses where they belong- _ow!_ Don't bite me, you little beast!"

"They're just trying to help. Don't be a brat." Pollen made a face at Chloe, hidden from the couple by the rest of the group. "They're not trying to _stop_ us, just warn us that the trail in the backcountry can get kind of rough."

Chloe still sniffed. "Don't they think we _know_ that? What do they think we are, a bunch of amateurs?"

Marinette just exchanged an amused look with Adrien. Technically, they _were_ amateurs, except for maybe Alya and Master Fu. And Chloe had never really been hiking at all before, so she was _definitely_ not anywhere close to being an expert on it.

After a minute more, the couple shrugged and waved before continuing to pass by. The teens turned back to three _very_ amused adults.

"We told them that Master Fu regularly does backpacking trips," Sabine told them as they started down the trail again. The amusement in her voice was clear. "And that he's much stronger than he looks. I don't think they were convinced, but we pointed out that he _did_ make it all the way out here. We just have to go really slowly."

"And what did they say to that?" Marinette asked curiously.

Her mother laughed. "They just kind of nodded and congratulated Master Fu on being able to backpack still. They said that he was the oldest person they had ever seen out on the trails."

That got a proper laugh out of all of them. "And they don't even know half of it," Alya chimed in. "I bet they were thinking he was seventy or eighty, not a _hundred_ and eighty."

"It was not a _complete_ lie," Master Fu told them, chuckling a bit himself. "I used to backpack quite regularly when I was _actually_ in my seventies and eighties- and after that, too! I just haven't been able to keep up with it in the last couple decades."

Adrien and Marinette shared an amused look. With anyone else, that statement would sound ridiculous, and it was definitely good that they hadn't told _that_ to the concerned hikers. If they had, they would probably have a battalion of rangers searching for them by the end of the day, certain that they weren't mentally fit enough to be out in the wilderness.

"Master Fu, I sense no other humans on this trail," Nooroo piped up after another minute of hiking. "The closest people are the ones we just passed. If you wished to take a break now and then transform..."

Master Fu looked pleased. "Fabulous! Yes, just let me set this down-" he started to move to take off his pack, and Nino and Alya scrambled over to hoist the pack off of him and get it set down. The second it cleared his back, Wayzz spiraled free again and reached for the thermos of tea Sabine had already pulled out.

"We will take a short break to refuel," Master Fu told them. "Pull out your day-packs, since you'll want access to your water. Wayzz, how are you doing?"

"I'll be ready to transform you in a minute," Wayzz told him. He took another gulp of the tea. "But I'm going to need to eat a _lot_ this evening."

"Have one of my sugar cubes, Wayzz," Tikki piped up. "I know it's not your favorite food, but it's good for lots of energy really quickly. Here, I'll get one for you!"

It wasn't long before Wayzz deemed himself go enough to go, and the kwamis did one last check for any approaching hikers before Master Fu had Alya and Nino haul his backpack back onto him before transforming. The large pack melted away as the light washed over the old Guardian, transforming him into Jade Turtle.

"Ah, that is _much_ better," Jade Turtle said cheerfully. He held out his shield, letting it float down low enough for him to sit. Once he was settled, it rose just over a meter off of the ground and started forward at a good clip. He did a quick loop, then came back to them. "Yes, this will work. Tenzin, if you could-"

Tenzin stepped forward, depositing his bag into the back of Jade Turtle's shell. He bowed respectfully to the old Guardian, then to the rest of them. With a wave and a quick final exchange of words with Jade Turtle, he headed back up the trail the way they came.

"Okay, everyone," Jade Turtle announced, waving them closer. "Big backpacks in the shell- you'll have to grab them back if the kwamis sense anyone coming- and Tikki, Plagg-"

" _Sleeping_ ," Adrien's backpack said. Jade sighed.

" _Fine_. Tikki, _Nooroo_ , keep alert for anyone approaching. All right?"

Marinette nodded, dumping her bag on top of Adrien's behind Jade Turtle. The others were just as fast to shuck their load. As soon as the last bag was settled, Jade set off again, powering along down the trail. They all fell into line behind him.

Maybe they would make some actual progress today after all.

 

* * *

 

"My feet _ache_ ," Chloe complained partway through the afternoon, sitting down on a jutting rock nearby and starting to unlace her boots. Her heels hurt, her _toes_ hurt, and the arches of her feet hurt, too. She tugged off her boot and her sock and was horrified to see little puffy pockets of skin in between her toes and red chafing on her heels. " _Ugh!_ Look at my feet! We've not even been walking for an entire day, and my feet are already _destroyed!_ The people who said that these boots were supposed to be _good_ must have been paid off. These boots are brand new, so they shouldn't be having any problems!"

Alya stepped closer and Chloe resisted the urge to scowl. She didn't want anyone seeing her feet in this condition! They probably smelled, too, and her feet were not meant to _smell_. That was _gross_. "Didn't you break your boots in?"

"Don't be stupid, why would I break my boots? They're _new!_ "

"No, that's not what it means," Alya explained as though Chloe were a small child. "You're supposed to wear boots a lot to make them mold to your feet perfectly. That's why old boots are actually better than new ones, because they aren't as stiff and won't rub as much."

"Oh, well _that's_ great!" Chloe snapped angrily. "Fat lot of good that does me _now_. So what, I'm just supposed to hike on bleeding feet until my boots manage to figure out how to fit? _That_ sounds like a whole lot of fun!" She wanted to cry. _This_ wasn't what she signed up for when she became a superhero. She had agreed because she wanted to help Adrien get his mother back- Mrs. Agreste had practically been _her_ mom too, after all- but instead she got aching, swollen, practically _bleeding_ feet, hiking in hot, humid weather that was absolutely _ruining_ her hair, and bugs flying around her head.

How many more days of this were they going to have to do? She couldn't do it. She _couldn't_. She had never felt like less of a superhero in her life.

"Perhaps you should take a break," Jade Turtle suggested. "Come join me, Queen Bee. We can fly on my shell together."

Chloe sniffed and nodded, trying to pull herself together as the old man maneuvered his floating shell-shield over to her side so she could get in without putting her boots back on. Alya handed Chloe her boots, and Chloe arranged them somewhat distastefully at her side. The boots were muddy and they were already starting to smell like sweaty feet, which was _gross_. Chloe had never had her feet _smell_ before.

"Anyone else need a break from hiking?" Jade Turtle asked, glancing around. "We don't want anyone else ruining their feet so early on."

Part of Chloe wanted someone else to say yes, just to prove that she wasn't _weak,_ but the rest of her didn't want the shell to get any more crowded. Sure, Fu could expand it to fit more people comfortably, but then there would be more smelly boots sitting next to her and _that_ wouldn't be pleasant.

The other five people shook their heads, and they continued through the forest. Jade Turtle and Chloe led the way on the shell, with Jade consulting his GPS and the Agreste journals every so often. There were a lot of references to natural landmarks in the notes, which meant that they couldn't just speed on ahead as fast as possible. Still, Chloe wasn't too picky about their speed now that she wasn't walking. She could just sit back and watch the forest go by while swatting away any bugs that ventured too close.

 _Ugh._ _Bugs._ Chloe wasn't happy about that, either. Bug spray _smelled_ , and yet she didn't want to get bitten up by whatever weird bugs they had in Tibet. It would itch and maybe she would get some weird disease, too. She was starting to wish that she hadn't come at all, because all she was doing so far was feeling absolutely _miserable_. From here on out, there wouldn't be any hotels, not even crummy ones. They would be sleeping in _tents_ (ugh) on the _ground_ (double ugh), and cooking over a cook stove or a _campfire_ (quality food that would _not_ be). She was happy to have her father pay for lodging and food and everything, but his money could only go so far in making the whole experience not absolutely _suck_.

She was out in the middle of _nowhere_ , with no butler at her beck and call, no feather mattress, no cool silk sheets washed every week, no luscious piles of pillows, no five-star meals, and no air conditioning or heating. And to make things worse, she didn't particularly _like_ most of the people on the trip, and they didn't particularly like her. Alya and Nino spent most of their time chatting with each other or with Adrien and Marinette, and Adrien was too wrapped up in Marinette to spend time with Chloe. Marinette's mother was content to stroll along at the back of the group and take pictures of the scenery around them (though Chloe wondered what there was to take pictures _of,_ since they couldn't move that fast and all they could see around them was trees- or, alternately, fields and mountains, and that was _boring_ ), and Fu was focused on following the instructions from Mr. Agreste's journal.

At least now she could just sit and relax as they went instead of wearing blisters and calluses into her feet. Maybe there wasn't anything to watch, really, but it was better than _walking_.

"Ooh! Look at all of the flowers!" Pollen exclaimed excitedly, popping out of Chloe's bag. She zipped around Chloe's head and then made a beeline towards a clump of red flowers. "Tasty!"

Chloe slumped further. Of _course_ Pollen would ditch her for food as soon as she was done with her nap. That was just how today was going, wasn't it?

"Pollen _can_ use flower nectar as an alternate energy source," Jade Turtle commented suddenly, pulling Chloe out of her grumbly thoughts. "So we wouldn't have to dip into our supply of kwami food for her if you were to transform for portions of the trip out to the temple."

Chloe scowled in confusion. "And what good would _that_ do? _"_ she demanded, irritated. Jade Turtle only smiled slightly at her tone, utterly unperturbed.

(And wasn't _that_ annoying? Chloe was used to getting a _response_ , darn it.)

"Well, then you wouldn't spend as much of the trip in hiking in your boots," he started, and Chloe perked up, instantly interested. He was right- she could just _fly_ instead, and that would be so much more fun. "And you could fly up ahead and see if you could find the next point mentioned in the journal. You would be a scout of sorts. It could speed the trip up a bit."

For a moment, Chloe was excited. Speed up the trip? _Sign her up!_ But then her brain kicked in and she slipped into a pout. "And risk getting lost? What if I can't find you again? And nobody except me has any _service_ out here, it's not like I could just call you up and tell you my coordinates or whatever!"

Once again, Jade Turtle didn't look at all bothered. "Queen Bee, you forget that our weapons have locators on them. You'll be able to see where we are as long as I am transformed, and I can _promise_ you that I would not detransform when you are not with us. And the kwamis don't need cell phone service for us to be able to call each other."

He was right, Chloe realized with a small internal wince. But _obviously_ she wasn't going to admit that. Besides, it wasn't _her_ fault that she forgot about what their weapons could do. She had only been a superhero for a short bit of time, and had only transformed a handful of times, just to get used to the feeling.

"And for portions of the trip, we will be crossing fields or heading up rocky mountains, and it will be quite easy for us to see each other," Jade Turtle continued. "So there's no need to worry, really."

Chloe sat back, excited. She liked the idea. If she could find the landmarks that Mr. and Mrs. Agreste had listed in their journal, then they could maybe go twice or even three times as far in a single day as they would have otherwise, which in _turn_ meant that they could finish the whole trip faster and she could get back to the climate-controlled interior of her father's hotel and her favorite lounge chair next to the pool on the roof.

And Adrien would get his mother back faster, too. That was, as long as the spell actually _worked_.

"I can do that tomorrow, maybe," Chloe suggested eagerly. "Once I'm not so tired."

"Fabulous. Now, would you like to join me in front and help me follow the path? It's hard on these old eyes."

Chloe spent the rest of the day riding in the shell, helping Jade Turtle follow the faint trail through the woods. The ache in her feet died back a little bit now that she wasn't walking on them, and she actually felt a bit useful.

"Couldn't all of us transform and do scouting for the rest of the trip?" Chloe asked Jade Turtle as they came to a stop as the sun dipped below the horizon. She had decided that she rather liked sitting back and riding along, at least for part of the trip, and did it really matter _who_ was scouting ahead as long as it was happening? "That would make it faster."

"We didn't pack enough supplies for everyone to be transformed on the way out," Jade Turtle reminded her. "Most of the other kwamis can only scavenge enough to stay at a very baseline energy level."

"Oh." So much for that idea, then. If Chloe wanted the trip to go faster, then she would have to do the scouting herself. That was fine. "Wait, what did people do when they were at the temple, then? How did you get food for the kwamis?"

Jade Turtle chuckled. "The same way we got food for the rest of us. We grew it on-site, and bought from some nearby farmers. All of us kids that were brought in to train helped with the growing and the harvesting between lessons."

 _Ugh._ That sounded like a whole lot of work. Thank goodness the modern-day superheroes hadn't had to go through that. Pollen was picky with her honey when they were at home, and having to actually go out and harvest honey herself? Chloe wouldn't do it, even if it were the only way she could be a superhero.

"But enough about my history. There will be time enough for that later." Jade Turtle brought his shell down so Chloe could get out. "For now- can we have three people on cooking and three on tents? Chop chop, we don't have all night!"


	5. Chapter 5

Adrien was having a _lot_ of fun as they hiked along. Day Three of hiking was going well- now that they were properly clear of the established backcountry hiking trails, they could relax a bit more. The kwamis didn't have to be on watch all the time, which meant that they could chat with each other and their Chosens or fly off to forage for food in the forests and meadows they passed through. Chloe had been in surprisingly good spirits as well, largely because she was barely spending any time at all hiking, and it meant that the atmosphere of the whole group was more relaxed.

"I would have thought that you would have brought music to play while we're hiking," Adrien commented to Nino as they scrambled up a rocky slope. He paused to turn around and give Marinette a hand up. "To boost the mood or whatever."

Nino snorted, though Adrien didn't quite understand why. "To boost our _energy_ , you mean? I thought about it, but there would be no way to recharge. Master Fu's solar charger only produces enough energy to charge his GPS. I'd get to use it for, like, one day, and then it would just be extra stuff. And that equipment is _expensive_ , man. It would be too easy to lose something out here." His foot slipped on a rock and he swore as he caught himself. "Or it would get broken while we're hiking. Like, it's gonna be tough not having my beats and all, but I'll survive."

"Yeah, I guess that's smart. " Adrien clambered over another pile of broken stones and glanced upwards, to where Chloe- or, rather, Queen Bee- sat perched at the top of the pass, waiting for them all to join her. Ahead of them but not _quite_ so far up, Jade Turtle and Mrs. Cheng floated serenely forwards, gliding over the broken rocks. Their path wasn't entirely straight- Jade Turtle was steering them around the larger boulders so that he didn't have to do _quite_ so much maneuvering up and down- but that didn't seem to be slowing him down at all.

Not that he was _speeding_ at all or anything. Adrien was pretty sure that the Turtle could go faster than that, but there wasn't much point in zipping along when the four of them had decided to just clamber over the rocks instead of hitching a ride in the shell.

"I think we lost the girls," Nino said suddenly, pulling Adrien out of his thoughts. He was glancing back at the rock rubble below them. "I swear, they were _just_ behind us-"

Adrien whipped around, frowning. Before he could get _too_ concerned, though, a streak of red zipped overhead, followed by a bouncing blob of orange. The two zipped ahead, passing over then and Jade Turtle and Sabine, landing at the top. There was a dual flash of light, and then their girlfriends were giggling next to an unamused Queen Bee.

There was a pause.

"Okay, yeah, that's actually not a bad idea," Nino said, stopping completely. "Why did we decide to climb this thing like normal people again?"

Adrien shrugged. "For the experience?"

"Yeah, yeah. We came, we climbed, we experienced." Nino shrugged off his pack and peered inside. "Hey, Duusu, can you transform me for a minute? Two, tops."

Duusu popped his head out, looking sleepy. "I thought you were walking?"

"I _was_. But I don't wanna be sore tomorrow. I've had enough rock scrambling for one day." Nino tapped the brooch pinned to his t-shirt. "So, transform me?"

Adrien sighed and pulled his own backpack off, shaking it lightly to wake Plagg up as Nino transformed in a flash of blue light and set off up the slope with a whoop and a small avalanche of dislodged pebbles and fist-sized stones. Adrien dodged to the side before anything could hit him, then shook the bag again. "C'mon, Plagg. I need you for a minute."

Plagg groaned and popped out of her bag. "Do I gotta?"

Seconds later, Chat Noir poled his way up the uneven slope, somersaulting to the ground next to Marinette moments before Paon reached the waiting group. He grinned at his friend, doing a little dance in victory.

"You aren't half as cool as you think you are," Paon told him seriously, detransforming in a flash of light. "Marinette, tell this loser that he isn't cool."

Detransforming, Adrien turned to Marinette with a pout. "Marinette, tell Nino that I am _so_ cool."

Marinette just giggled.

"Okay, kids, now everyone into the shell," Jade Turtle called out as he and Mrs. Cheng reached them. "We're getting pretty high up, and I don't want to risk anyone overexerting themselves and getting sick this early on."

Queen Bee pouted. "Me too? I don't want to cram in with everyone!"

Jade Turtle sighed. "I guess you can stay out. We'll stay together through this pass, and then you can fly ahead again." He shifted, adjusting his seat as his shell expanded and they started piling in. Adrien gave Marinette a foot up, then followed. The inside of the shell wasn't particularly comfortable to sit in, not with all of them crammed in, but it wasn't _bad_ or anything. "Everyone, be sure to hold on. It can get gusty out here, and I don't want anyone being blown out."

Adrien took the opportunity to cuddle up with Marinette. It was a bit chilly this high up, and while he _had_ packed a sweatshirt and a sweater, they were buried in his big bag, inaccessible unless he wanted to ask Jade Turtle to pause so that he could dig for a sweater that he would probably only use for half an hour before they got low enough again that it would be too warm.

"Nino, Alya, can you two keep an eye on our bags?" Mrs. Cheng asked, turning around to address them as Jade Turtle guided the shell through the pass after Queen Bee. "You're closest, after all. I just don't want to lose anything and have to backtrack, even if we _are_ a little ahead of schedule."

Adrien perked up at that little tidbit. He knew that Chloe's scouting had helped some- sometimes, she could see the next landmark by air and they could shortcut ahead, speeding along in Jade Turtle's shell instead of having to try to follow an old, _very_ overgrown trail through the woods- but he hadn't known that they had managed to make up for that slow first day and then some, too.

After all, Chloe's scouting didn't _always_ work. Sometimes their landmarks were too small and not visible from the air. Sometimes it was just hard to recognize them from an angle. Once, Chloe had gone in the wrong direction entirely. Sometimes she was tired from the flying. Once, she had to come back because a helicopter was flying over too close and too often, and they didn't want to be spotted.

At any rate, Chloe's scouting had only actually succeeded three or so times, and only let them skip ahead a little bit each time. Master Fu had promised that it would probably work more when they were going through fields and mountains instead of forests when it looked like Chloe was going to have one of her famous meltdowns.

The wind picked up as they moved forward. Adrien had to spit a strand of Marinette's hair out of his mouth when one strong gust blew half of her pigtail into his mouth. The shell wobbled slightly, and they all grabbed on for dear life.

"Oops, wasn't expecting that!" Jade Turtle laughed. "I'll focus on keeping it steady so we don't all topple out."

By the time they finished flying through the pass, Adrien's leg was starting to cramp up and his cheeks were frozen. They all let out a cheer as the narrow path opened up to sky and fields.

Those cheers cut off as they realized that this side of the mountain seemed to be a near-sheer drop-off.

Queen Bee darted ahead, flying above the drop-off and then spinning back to regard it. After a moment, her expression brightened. "There's a path! It's _really_ narrow and dangerous, but it winds along over here, see?"

Master Fu edged the shell forward and they all leaned forward to look. Sure enough, a narrow path- if it could even be _described_ as a path- clung to the face of the cliff. Some sections had crumbled away to almost nothing while others were partially obstructed by small rock falls. It would be all too easy to trip or miss a step and go plummeting straight down.

Adrien thought about his parents- untransformed and unprotected- taking this exact path ( _several times_ , since they hadn't made it to the temple in a single trip). He felt a bit queasy.

They could have fallen all too easily and no one would have ever found out. Not for a long time, anyway.

"We will not be _hiking_ down," Master Fu announced, to their great relief. "I can see where the trail leads, and where our next landmark is. We will go straight there. Everyone, please hold on. The Turtle shell cannot fly above open air at a level altitude for long, so there may be some sharp drops- only short ones, I promise!- at times."

Adrien's grip on both the shell and on Marinette's hand tightened. He was starting to think that it would be a good idea to transform, just in case.

After all, that was a _long_ drop.

"The landscaping here looks like there was some sort of rockslide," Jade Turtle told them as he guided the turtle shell off of the edge like it was a completely normal thing to do. They started drifting downwards. "The whole side of the mountain cracked and slid down to the bottom, probably several times to get such a steep slope."

"Great," Nino said, voice sounding a little squeakier than normal. "Fascinating. Uh, how long until we reach the ground again?"

"Oh, not long." Jade Turtle guided the shell forward and they started descending faster. "We're aiming for that perfectly round rock down there. We should arrive there in _maybe_ five minutes. Had we hiked down the trail, that would take most of the day."

"That's good that we could just shortcut like this," Marinette said. She squeezed Adrien's hand before he could glance over the side of the shell again and start worrying anew about how high off the ground they were. "That'll take another day off of the journey. We're getting closer faster than we thought."

Adrien nodded. There was a spike of excitement, followed by a spike of anxiety, deep in his gut.

He wanted to get to the temple and get his mother back. But what if it didn't work? Or what if she had somehow turned as dark as his father, without him ever knowing? Sure, he had a family in Marinette and her parents and Nino and Alya, but...

It just wasn't the _same_.

The turtle shell soared on, dropping noticeably in altitude. Jade Turtle seemed to have pretty good control over it, so there were no sudden drops like he had warned them about.

Still, Adrien found himself working his jaw frequently to clear out his ears and keep them from popping. They were going down fast enough that it would have been _really_ uncomfortable otherwise.

By the time they got down to the ground, Marinette and Alya had both relaxed and were looking around. Alya had taken out her camera and was snapping photos- she had already filled half of a memory card, and that was only as of that _morning-_ and had even recorded a short video of how far the ground was below them and where they had come from.

"Ooh, my legs are dead," Adrien groaned as he half-climbed, half-rolled out of the shell. He staggered a few steps as blood rushed back into his legs. "I don't know if I'll be able to walk right away. Can we have lunch early?"

"You'd be able to _eat_ after _that?_ " Nino asked dubiously. "I think I'll need a minute. Or twenty."

Jade Turtle laughed. "We'll likely be doing a number of crossings like this. Not all of them will have such steep slopes, of course, but drop-offs in terrain like this are...not uncommon, I'm afraid."

Nino groaned louder.

Queen Bee touched down easily, smirking at Nino's groans. Instead of commenting (Adrien inwardly cheered. Hey! She was learning!), she turned to Jade Turtle. "Okay, so now we're here. What's the next landmark? I'll go there!"

Jade Turtle chuckled. "Ah, patience, patience." He consulted the journal. "'Down a goat path on the side of a cliff'- just did that-'and boy will it ever be a pain to go back up that'. Well, we'll just fly back up on the way back, so no worries there. 'Head down the trail- it becomes more distinct. Followed that for the rest of the day and then two days more, through rock fields and a few areas of shrubland. Awful at this time of the year.' I don't think there's much of a shortcut here."

Queen Bee pouted.

"The good news is that the path _is_ more distinct than when we were in the forest, so we won't be going a turtle's speed trying to track it." Jade Turtle started down the path, talking as he floated along. "We'll start off slow to let your legs get back on track, and then we'll do an hour of good, solid hiking before we break for lunch. Sound good?"

Queen Bee groaned and dropped back down to the ground. "Do I have to detransform, then?"

"It would be a good idea, yes. Pollen likely would want to rest and recharge. If you want to ride in the shell, you can." Jade Turtle continued down the path and they all followed, Adrien limping a bit as the blood returned to his legs. The pins and needles wore off after a minute, and then Adrien had to jog a bit to catch up with the rest of the group.

They headed over rock fields, scrambling over some of the piles of rock left by the rock slide and between others. Chloe hopped into the shell for the worst bits of the hike, scowling and rubbing her feet through her boots once she was fully situated in the shell.

At least she wasn't complaining. Or if she was, at least they couldn't hear it.

They hiked for the rest of the day, until Adrien's calves were aching and everyone except for him and Marinette had hopped into Jade Turtle's shell. They stopped in front of a gaping opening in a cliff next to the trail.

"We're sleeping in a _cave?_ " Chloe protested when Jade Turtle steered his shell towards it. "That's not safe! What if there's something sleeping in it?"

"Yeah, I don't want a snow leopard hopping into my sleeping bag with me," Nino agreed. "Although wouldn't that be possible anywhere in these mountains?"

Jade Turtle chuckled. "Ah, but this is safe. There were spells placed on this particular cave when the trail was made to keep it safe for camping when ferrying new recruits to the temple. I wouldn't recommend wandering _too_ far out of the cave without your kwamis when using the bathroom at night so you can transform if needed, but it's safe."

Adrien grinned and dashed ahead of the shell into the cave. They hadn't camped in caves before, just under trees and in meadows. The floor was unusually even- he had to wonder if there was some magic involved there, but he didn't know what the extent of the magic that the Guardians could do was- and the ceiling was high enough for him to stand almost all the way back. It wasn't a _deep_ cave, either- there was enough space for them and their tents with a bit of space to spare for their cooking area, but that was it. Some areas were mossy, but it was mostly just exposed rock. A couple short stalactites clung to the ceiling.

Alya was by his side snapping photos almost immediately.

"Once you're done with that, we will start setting up tents and preparing dinner," Jade Turtle called, making them both turn. Marinette and Chloe were hovering at his side, ready to grab the large backpack and haul it off as soon as he detransformed. "After all, we'll want to go to bed soon. We'll have another full day of hiking again tomorrow."

"Coming!" Adrien called, figuring that his tired legs could wait to rest until they were eating. He trotted over, grabbing his backpack from the pile and hauling it over to where Nino had dropped his. "All right, what can I do to help?"

 

* * *

 

They woke up to rain.

Sheets and sheets of rain poured from the grey sky, pattering against the rocks and running down the cracks and gorges. There was a new stream running down the path, weaving around the rocks and gurgling along.

"Well, it's a good thing we decided to camp in this cave," Sabine commented. "We're not going to flood in here. But I don't think we'll be hiking today."

"But what will we do, then?" Nino asked. "Just stay in the cave the whole time?"

"We could take advantage of the rain and shower," Alya suggested as she peered out at the pouring water. "We all brought swimsuits, right? And the rain will be a bit colder than a Sun Shower would be, but it wouldn't be _awful_."

Adrien shivered just thinking about going out and getting soaked on _purpose_. It wasn't as though it was particularly warm outside to begin with, and then getting wet on _purpose?_ They were in the middle of a mountain range in a part of the country that was _already_ pretty high above sea level, and it was _cold_. But Alya had a point- they had been working hard with three days of hikes and no showers. They _could_ wash now, so they probably should.

Besides, they _had_ collected some bits of wood that were outside in case they wanted a fire, so they could get that started and dry around that afterwards.

"I'll go change," Adrien volunteered before people could start groaning about Alya's idea. "A shower- well, a wash, at least- sounds _great_."

"Blech!" Plagg exclaimed, making a face. "Go out in all of that water? No thanks!"

Adrien gave his kwami a Look. "Not _you_ , Plagg. You can stay inside and sleep, just like you do every day."

"I appreciate the enthusiasm, Adrien, but we should probably eat breakfast first," Mrs. Cheng said with a laugh. "...but I suppose you _could_ change while we get things heat up. Who all is going to wash up today?"

Adrien raised his hand. Alya wasn't far behind. Marinette ran a hand through her hair, then winced and half-raised a tentative hand.

Chloe looked less than convinced, though her own hand went to her hair as well. "How long do you think it'll be until we can use those Sun Shower things?""

"Potentially a couple days." Master Fu was already heading towards their camp stove set-up. He ignored Chloe's small noise of dismay. "We'll need to get at least a _little_ out of the mountains and we'd need to find a stream. I'd suggest taking this opportunity."

Chloe didn't look convinced. Oddly enough, neither did Nino.

"Come on, dude," Adrien said with a laugh. "Really? Out of all of us, you'll be the one who has to be out there for the shortest time."

"Which means that I _could_ potentially just catch some rain water in a pot to toss over my head on some warmer day instead," Nino suggested hopefully. "That sounds like a plan to me- no?"

"If we have to share a cave all day, you're going to wash just like the rest of us," Chloe told him. " _Ugh_. This is going to be _awful_ , but I suppose at least this way I don't have a limit to how much water I can use to wash my hair."

"You just have to be able to tolerate the cold for that long," Alya agreed cheerfully. "...I guess we're all changing, then?"

It didn't take long for them to eat a hasty breakfast and then change into their swimsuits so that they could head out and take advantage of the rain before it lightened. As he stood in the front end of the cave, Adrien found himself regretting his decision to wash in the rain.

It was _cold_. And he could already feel from the rain splashing up on his legs that _that_ was cold, too. He hadn't even stepped out into the rain yet and he was already shivering.

No one else looked any more eager. Except, of course, for Master Fu. He was humming merrily as he rubbed a bar of soap over his grey hair in the middle of the downpour, utterly unperturbed by the cold. Even Mrs. Cheng looked a bit apprehensive.

"Well, we're not going to get any warmer standing here," Alya said after a minute more. "The sooner we wash, the sooner we can get in, change back to normal clothes, and warm up." She pulled her towel off of her shoulders and grabbed her own shampoo and conditioner before heading out. Her slight wince when the rain hit her shoulders was barely visible.

Adrien let out a small yelp of surprise as his girlfriend headed out to join Alya several seconds later. Her flinch at the rain was much more obvious, but then she was turning her face to the sky, letting it soak her fully. Much to Adrien's surprise, Chloe was the next one out. There were several muffled curses as she darted out and immediately started squeezing shampoo into her hand. She had started rubbing it in before her hair was fully wet.

Nino and Adrien stared.

"They literally _all_ have more guts than us," Nino said disbelievingly. He looked over at Adrien. "How are we the last ones to go out?"

Adrien just shook his head and shivered again.

"Do I need to come over there and drag you out, Adrien?" Marinette called over. The suds in her hair were already rinsing off. "It's not _that_ bad!"

"Somehow I get the feeling that you're just saying that to get me out there!" Adrien called back.

"Yeah, tough talk from the girl who _flinched_ when she went out!" Nino added.

Chloe, who was already partway through conditioning her hair while standing under a slight overhang, snorted loudly. "Big talk from the guy who hasn't even come out yet."

Master Fu chuckled as he walked back towards the cave entrance, shower finished. Behind him, Wayzz was still frolicking in the stream of water running down the path. "Go on, now. We don't know how much longer the rain will last. If you wait too long, it might lighten up and then you'll have to deal with soap in your hair."

Grimacing, Adrien dropped his towel and grabbed his soaps. With his shoulders hunched all the way to his ears, he dashed out into the rain and immediately let out a squeak (he would _not_ call it a squeal, he had more pride than that) of surprise.

Oh, it was _cold._ It was cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, _cold_.

Marinette giggled as Adrien frantically ruffled his hair to get it all wet as fast as he could. "It's nice to see you out, kitty-cat."

"Dude, you abandoned me!" Nino hollered. "Not cool!"

Adrien couldn't respond. He was too busy frantically scrubbing shampoo into his hair. All he wanted was to finish his wash and get back in the cave, next to the fire Master Fu was now tending. A few meters over, Chloe was scrubbing through her hair, trying to get all of the conditioner out. She had somehow procured a pot and had it collecting water. As he watched, she grabbed the pot and upended it over her head, dumping the water over her head and washing the rest of the soap out. She shoved her hair out of her eyes, wincing, and then _sprinted_ back to the cave, snatching up her towel as she passed.

Nino joined Adrien a minute later, wincing the whole way. They both finished up in a hurry and then sprinted back in to join the others around the fire.

"I'm glad that I cut my hair before we left," Alya was saying as Adrien crowded in next to Marinette, plucking at his drenched swim trunks in an attempt to get them to stop sticking to his legs. "If my hair had been its normal length, it would be a pain to try to get all of the soap out."

"Yeah, you _did_ take a bit off, didn't you?" Adrien commented. Alya's hair was just barely brushing the tops of her shoulders now, instead of tumbling past. Chloe had also cut her hair, and he knew that Marinette had chopped a few centimeters off at the ends. She had complained endlessly about the haircut making her signature ponytails look funny.

"I brought scissors along in case anyone needs a trim while we're on the trip," Mrs. Cheng told them. She pressed a cup of steaming tea into Adrien's hands. "I'm no stylist, but I promise not to mess things up so badly that a hairdresser couldn't straighten it back out in a single haircut."

Chloe's hands went to her hair, clearly dubious expression on her face. She wasn't going to let anyone near her hair with scissors, Adrien was sure of that.

Once his tea was finished, Adrien headed back to his and Nino's tent to change back into his dry clothes. He emerged after a minute, hanging his swimming trunks up on a line with the other wet swimsuits before re-joining the group around the fire.

"So what are we supposed to do for the rest of the day?" Chloe asked. "I mean, we can't go hiking if it's raining like this or we'll all get sick and die. So..."

"We can play cards," Mrs. Cheng suggested. "I brought a deck. Or perhaps Master Fu and the kwamis could tell us more about past users. That would pass a bit of time."

Duusu perked up. "Ooh! Let me, let me! So, six hundred years ago, I had a holder-"

For the rest of the morning, the kwamis took turns telling them about past holders and their adventures. All except for Plagg, who yawned, waved a lazy paw, and told them that _he_ wasn't going to tell any boring stories. Tikki spluttered and told them about some of Plagg's past holders in his place, though Plagg _did_ occasionally interrupt to interject Tikki's stories with comments about the cheeses at the time. They briefly broke for lunch- and _boy_ was it ever nice to have a warm lunch again- and then worked on re-organizing their food supply properly, making sure that all of the food had been removed from their backpacks and were properly returned to Master Fu's large bag. Plagg spotted some of the cheese that they had been keeping from him and promptly burst into song, "entertaining" them with what seemed to be a musical about the history of cheese and Camembert in particular.

"Oh, hey, here's a bag of rice," Adrien said, tugging at the bag half-hidden in the bottom of his pack. It didn't budge- which he should have expected, it _was_ quite a large bag of rice, after all- so Adrien set his feet and _yanked._

The backpack came off the ground as Adrien lifted the bag. He groaned.

"Nino, can you hold the backpack down for a moment?" he asked, ignoring Plagg's warbling " _and then the cheese curds are salted- so squeaky! Oh, fresh cheese curds-_ " in the background. "There's some rice in here that got stuck."

Together, the two of them wrestled the rice bag free without ripping it. Master Fu beamed when they brought it over to add to his bag.

"Ah, so _that's_ where that went," he said cheerfully. "I did wonder. I knew we were a bag short. We still have a couple cans, a block of cheese, and a few bags of kwami food unaccounted for yet, so keep looking."

Adrien and Nino nodded and headed back to their bags.

"Well, my legs appreciate the break," Nino said as they sorted through their clothes. "The hiking up and down-hill is really hard on them."

"And that's what we're going to be doing for most of the rest of the trip," Adrien pointed out. He found a bag of dried peas in the bottom of his pack and lobbed them over in Master Fu's direction. Wayzz perked up and dragged the bag over to the pile of food being sorted. "It's pretty much all mountains out here."

Nino groaned. "My _legs_."

Adrien muffled a laugh. "Just think about how great your legs will look when we get back, though! Just in time for pool season!"

"Yeah, except I've already been to the pool this year, and people are going to notice if I suddenly have calf muscles that are out of this world." Nino picked up a shirt, sniffed it, then made a face and tossed it in a different pile. " _You'll_ be fine, though, you and Marinette. You were already in good shape and no one will ask any questions. _And_ you're assuming that I'll still have legs left after this."

"Are you looking forward to getting back?" Adrien asked after a pause. He glanced over at his friend. "I mean, I know we only just started out, but..."

Nino flashed him a grin. "Honestly? Nah. I usually get bored over the summer anyway, or I end up babysitting my little cousin a lot. And I'm no Alya, I'm no good with kids. This is the trip of a lifetime, even if we _do_ have to dig a hole in the ground to use the bathroom and hike until my legs ache and eat practically the same thing almost every day. _And_ even if we have to listen to your kwami singing about cheese," Nino added after a second's thought. "Which, dude- d'you think you can make him stop?"

Adrien glanced over at his kwami. Even though no one was paying him any attention, Plagg seemed to be quite into his song.

"Honestly? No."

" _-and then the cheese is aged! Oh, age that cheese, age it fine, let it develop a beautiful rind-"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let him sing, Adrien! :D Plagg has a very specific creative vision with his entertainment.
> 
> As always, reviews make my day! :)


	6. Chapter 6

By midday on Day Six, Marinette was pretty certain that her legs were going to fall off. And she wasn't even exaggerating.

"Mine have just gone numb," Adrien said cheerfully, squeezing her hand. "And I'll have to bandage a couple places on my feet by the end of the day, probably. I can feel _that_ much, at least."

"You _could_ ride with the rest of us, you know," Nino called from the (very crowded) turtle shell. Chloe looked like she was going to hit someone if Pollen didn't come back from foraging for nectar in the shrubs soon so she could transform and fly on her own. "You don't need to, like, prove anything to us. We already know you're super-fit superheroes."

"Tell that to my legs," Marinette said, words half a laugh, half a groan. It was a tempting offer, but the shell was so cramped that it wouldn't be at all enjoyable and would probably just end up with making her legs cramp up. "We'll walk for a bit longer, I think. Is it lunchtime soon, by any chance?"

Chloe made a face. "We are _not_ having lunch until we're out of these bushes. I can't _eat_ with bees buzzing around my food!"

Plagg sniggered from his vantage point on top of Adrien's head. "I'm _so_ telling Pollen you said that."

Chloe's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Don't you even _think_ about it, you misshapen, smelly little-"

Plagg hissed. " _What_ did you call me? I will bite you, you-"

"Plagg, transform me," Adrien said tiredly, sucking Plagg into his ring before the kwami had time to protest. Sure, Chloe had started it, but that was no reason to encourage her bad mood by engaging in the exchange of insults. "Problem solved."

"Plagg will only be able to hold the transformation for fifteen or so minutes," Jade Turtle called back to them. "Since he's not fully charged and all."

"That's fine." Chat Noir glanced over at Marinette. "Well, now my legs feel better, at least. They're not _quite_ so tired. Would the Lady like a piggyback ride for a bit?"

Marinette nodded, stumbling a bit as she stopped. "Oh, would I _ever_. Thanks, Kitty."

"Not a problem." He crouched slightly, wincing as he did. "Oh, I can feel _that_. I won't be doing squats any time soon, I think. Not for fun, at least."

"Are you still okay to carry me?"

Chat Noir's hair bounced as he nodded. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Go on."

Hoping that he wasn't just trying to keep a brave face, Marinette climbed up. Her feet sighed in relief as her weight was taken off of them. Chat Noir didn't flinch at all as he straightened and strode forward quickly to catch up to Jade Turtle and the rest of their group.

"As glad as I am that we're making so much progress so quickly, I have to admit that hiking as fast as we have been is hard on me," Chat Noir admitted as they got closer. He slowed a bit to match the pace of their group, leaving enough space so that they could talk without being overheard. "I think Master Fu doesn't _quite_ realize how hard it is to hike over all those rocks at the speed he goes."

"Well, we _could_ just ride in the shell, but I think Chloe might explode if many more people are crammed in," Marinette said. Sure, the shell could grow to accommodate them, but after a point it got too wide to easily go between trees or rock piles or through crevices in the rock. And even if they were in a wide-open space, they would have to sit knee-to-knee with the others. Marinette had found that that just resulted in her legs cramping up even worse. "Hopefully we can start doing the shortcuts again soon. Or maybe we'll get another rain day and get to rest."

"Rest and wash," Chat Noir agreed. "The ol' washcloth just isn't doing it for me."

Marinette couldn't resist giggling, just a little. "You mean you miss your twice-a-day showers, kitty? Already?"

Chat Noir growled playfully and bounced in a circle, making her squeal and cling tighter. "Is someone teasing me, even though I'm her ride? How rude!"

"How _true_ , you mean- Adrien!" Marinette yelped as Chat Noir tripped and stumbled sideways for a moment. He caught himself and waved sheepishly to the rest of the group, who had turned around to look at them. "Serves you right for trying to throw me off."

Chat Noir just laughed.

Fifteen minutes later, Chat Noir's ring let out its first beep. Surprised, both of them glanced down at the now-blinking ring.

"I forgot that Plagg wouldn't be able to hold on as long as normal," Chat Noir commented. He adjusted his grip on Marinette's legs. "That's a pity. I was enjoying this whole leg not aching as much as normal business."

" _I_ was enjoying this whole not walking business, myself." Marinette pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Hopefully we'll be breaking for lunch soon, though. It's certainly about time."

"Yeah, my stomach would be growling if I weren't transformed." Chat Noir picked up the pace a bit, bringing them closer to the rest of their group. Clearly he didn't want to play catch-up after his transformation had dropped. "And I can hear yours, too. Or is that an upset snow leopard in the vicinity?"

"Ha, ha, _very funny_."

Even from his back, Marinette could see Chat Noir's grin. "Yeah, I thought so, too!" He snickered when she groaned. "I kid, I kid."

"Uh-huh _."_

"Chat Noir, you will want to detransform before your ring runs all the way down," Jade Turtle called as the ring beeped for a second time. "Otherwise Plagg will be too tired to forage and we'll have to dig into our supply just to give him enough energy to function."

Making a face, Chat Noir slowed. He crouched slightly to let Marinette off, then detransformed. As he did, he straightened back up again with a groan. "Ugh, my _calves."_

"We'll break for lunch in five minutes," Jade Turtle added. "There's a rock outcropping ahead that I can see that should be good."

Adrien groaned. "You couldn't have said that _before_ I detransformed? We could have just poled over there and skipped the walking."

Plagg groaned louder. "You aren't transforming again. Nu-uh, no way, not happening. I am _exhausted,_ worn out, _starving_ , wrung out, tired, exhausted, and have I mentioned _starving?_ "

"I could transform Marinette for a few minutes," Tikki volunteered. "And you could just swing over there."

Marinette blinked at her kwami and then at their surroundings. "Uh, with what buildings? There's not even any trees up here."

Tikki blinked, then pouted. "Oh. Right." She considered their landscape. "Well, you could at least make some big leaps? But maybe not if your legs really hurt."

Marinette thought about jumping and landing hard, without her usual softening effect from her yo-yo letting her down, and winced. "I think I'll walk, thanks."

Hand-in-hand, Adrien and Marinette headed up the trail for three minutes more before reaching the rock outcropping. There, they sat on the ground while the others tumbled out of the shell, making faces and stumbling as their feet hit the ground, cramped, asleep legs making it difficult for them to find their footing.

Marinette quickly did a few stretches, copying Adrien, who was already wincing as he reached for his toes. She didn't want to get all stiff over lunch, because that would just make the afternoon unbearable. Since there was no rain in sight- and when was the last time she _hoped_ for rain, really? Marinette couldn't remember- they would be hiking for probably four or five hours more.

They all tucked into their lunches, eating sandwiches made with the last of their purchased bread. Marinette practically inhaled her food, just so she wouldn't have to spend too long tasting the dry bread. Over on Alya's far side, she could see her mother doing the same thing.

The bread hadn't been up to Dupain-Cheng standards even when fresh. It had only gotten progressively worse (and progressively more squished) over the past week. Even though now they had to find something other than sandwiches to eat for lunch, Marinette was glad to see the last of it.

Everyone else ate quickly as well, all hungry from a morning of activity. Plagg stole some of the cheese from Chloe's lunch- revenge from her calling him misshapen earlier, Marinette was willing to bet- and then zipped off into the bushes, making little noises of glee whenever he found a mushroom. Chloe scoffed, scowling into the bushes, and chomped angrily on the remainder of her sandwich.

"I have news that I think you'll all be happy to hear," Fu told them as they finished their lunches. The entire group looked over at him curiously. "The journal mentioned traveling for two and a half or so days before hitting the next landmark. We've traveled for two days, and at a good pace. Chloe, if you want to go scouting again-"

Chloe actually _grinned,_ her previous bad mood absolutely rolling off of her.

"What's the next landmark?" Nino asked. "Anything interesting?"

Fu smiled, looking amused. "Yes, I believe you'll find this interesting. It's a root bridge."

There was a silence as they all frowned, wondering if they had heard correctly. Marinette glanced at Tikki, hoping for some clue. _Root bridge?_ Was that...a bridge made from the wood from roots nailed together instead of using wood from the main tree? That was creative, she supposed, but it seemed like a lot of work to dig up roots, unless maybe they were from trees that got uprooted...?

And either way, would the bridge even _be_ there anymore? It had been over a hundred and fifty years, and the bridge would be in harsh conditions year in and year out. It could easily be in the bottom of a gorge right now, if it had been over a gorge, or maybe washed far, far downstream by downstream. That wouldn't be a problem for them, of course- they could fly, pole, leap, or piggyback their way over pretty much anything- but Marinette _did_ wonder how Mr. and Mrs. Agreste would have dealt with a problem like that.

"What in the world is a _root bridge_?" Chloe demanded. "What's wrong with a _proper_ bridge?"

Master Fu chuckled. "Oh, believe me. You'll know it when you see it. It's _quite_ a distinctive thing."

Chloe just frowned. Clearly she had wanted more information.

After lunch had been cleaned up and all of the kwamis came back from their foraging (Plagg returned with an armful of weird, caterpillar-looking things that were apparently mushrooms, dropped them in Adrien's lap, then went out and returned twice more with more of the mushrooms), they set off again. This time, Chloe transformed and flew off to look for the root bridge, while the rest of them hiked. They hadn't been going for long when Jade Turtle's shell rang. Smiling, he answered it.

"I'm assuring the _root bridge_ is referring to these weird-ass out-of-place trees with tangled roots over a gorge," Chloe's voice said. She sounded distinctly unamused. "That's so _weird_. How did they grow like that?"

Jade Turtle chuckled. "Well, they had some help," he said. "Hold on, we'll be right there. Is it far? You got there quite quickly."

"No, I flew fast. I was tired of sitting, so I decided to do sprints and then I found a gorge, and just followed it. And I saw something over the gorge, and it was a bridge." A pause. " _If_ this can be called a bridge."

Everyone piled into the shell, making Plagg whine as he had to shuffle his stash of mushrooms to the side so no one would sit on them. Marinette and Adrien settled with their backs against the pile of bags and their shoulders pressed together as Jade Turtle picked up speed and lifted a little higher over the ground, leaving the path and cutting cross-country to where Queen Bee's dot waited on the map displayed in the front of the shell. Adrien's hand slid around hers, their fingers intertwining naturally as they enjoyed the breeze in their faces.

"I've had to put my camera away," Alya told them as Jade Turtle steered them quickly down a small incline. He had picked up speed again, going as fast as a speeding car. Marinette was rather glad she had never had to witness his driving. She was equally glad that Wayzz had managed to figure out how to make straps that would attach to the shell and lash all of their bags down. "All of my pictures were starting to look the same. Hopefully we'll be in slightly different habitat soon, because I feel weird _not_ taking photos."

"I think any photos right now would turn out a bit blurred!" Nino called over the sound of the wind, now whistling past them. "Which would be artsy, sure, but I don't know if that's what you're looking for."

" _I'm_ looking for some seat belts right about now," Adrien said in Marinette's ear as the shell picked up speed again. Up front, she could see her mother's knuckles go white as she clutched the edge of the shell. "But look at how much fun Master Fu is having!"

Sure enough, Jade Turtle had a huge grin on his face as they skimmed across a slight valley and over a ridge. He didn't look at all concerned by the speed, though perhaps that was because he was transformed and therefore in no danger.

Marinette glanced over at Tikki, who had tucked herself between two bags for the trip, and Plagg, who was frantically stashing his mushrooms under the bottommost bag so that they couldn't fly away. At least their kwamis were close enough for them to transform in time in case Jade Turtle accidentally steered them into something.

They went over one more rise and then the land opened up into something that seemed like a combination of grassland and bushes, with some short, scrubby trees sticking out here and there.

And then there were several distinctly _not_ short _or_ scrubby trees, standing guard on either side of a gorge, a brown bridge-looking thing hanging between them. Queen Bee sat there, perched daintily on a root. She made a face at the dust Jade Turtle stirred up when he finally slowed down and came to a halt, but otherwise didn't move.

"Oh, that is _cool_ ," Alya said, breaking the silence first. She clambered out of the shell so quickly that it wobbled for a moment and headed straight for the bridge. "That's the coolest thing I've ever seen, I think. Wow. Master Fu, how was that made?"

"Well, we borrowed a technique from India," Jade Turtle told them as the rest of the group piled out of the shell. Adrien gave Marinette a hand down and she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek for the trouble. "It comes from the native people in... ah, the name of the region escapes me at the moment. But one of the kwamis told the Guardians about it when we first started the temple, and some of them traveled down to that region to learn how to make the bridges. Ours are nowhere as old as theirs- some would be well over five hundred years old by now, I think? They don't last _fore_ verbut they _do_ last for quite some time."

"But those trees wouldn't normally live here, would they?" Sabine asked. She reached out to touch the bark. "As Chloe said, they _do_ look quite out of place."

"Climate spells. That was one of our favorite tricks." Jade Turtle navigated over to one of the trees and patted it fondly. "They exist in their own little bubble of perfect growing temperatures. Otherwise, it would be far too cold here. Too cold, and too dry. The trees would have died, or been severely stunted. And of course, those at the temple were the ones to plant them."

Marinette looked up at the trees. They were _definitely_ not stunted. Judging by how green their leaves were and how thick the foliage was, the climate spells had yet to wear off, despite the amount of time that had passed. There were even a few small orchids nestled in the branches of the trees, a fact that Alya hadn't overlooked. She was already snapping photos left and right, a wide grin on her face.

Now Marinette _really_ hoped that Master Fu would be able to teach her the climate spells at some point. That way, she could keep her garden on her balcony going year-round, instead of having to bring things inside before it got too cold. She had lost plants on more than one occasion because she had been too busy to remember to check, and then there was an early frost that killed things off. She could also maybe grow a few plants that otherwise wouldn't do well at all in Paris, all without _that_ much extra effort.

And she was sure that she would be able to use the spells for good at some point, too.

Suddenly Adrien was at her side, tugging at her hand. He was grinning, eyes sparking. "Come on, Marinette! Come see the actual bridge, it's so cool!"

Marinette let herself be led away from the trees and down the trail between them. Her jaw dropped as she properly took in the bridge for the first time.

It was _spectacular_. Roots wove in and out between each other, forming the sides of the bridge. The walkway itself was presumably formed from roots as well, though it was covered by a layer of dirt and cobblestones forming a more even path. The roots were a little thinner in the middle, sure, but thick enough that Marinette could sit in the middle of the bridge and not worry about her safety at all. Alya was already partway out with her camera, photographing the bridge from every angle.

(Well, except for below. Even with Rena Rouge's powerful leaps, Marinette didn't think that Alya would be able to go down and then get back up again. The gorge was _very_ deep, and the roaring river below didn't look very forgiving, even to superheroes.)

"It's gorgeous," Adrien commented. He had his camera out as well and was taking pictures. He turned the lens on her with a grin. "Oh, even better."

Marinette smothered a laugh and made a show of rolling her eyes. "Flirty kitty."

"I only speak the truth." Adrien snapped the picture and leaned forward to kiss her. As soon as they separated, they spotted Alya nearby with her camera aimed at them. Clearly their kiss had been caught on camera.

"I'll want a copy of that," Mrs. Cheng told Alya, much to Marinette's mortification. Alya just grinned and nodded.

" _Maman!_ "

Mrs. Cheng feigned innocence. "What, dear? It's a cute photo."

Adrien just laughed.

Marinette continued to inspect the bridge, finding inspiration from the way the roots interlocked with each other. The next thing she knew, her sketchbook was in her hand and a design was taking shape.

"Oh, that's _lovely_ ," Adrien said as soon as he spotted it. "If you want to make that, I'll buy the materials for you. It would look _stunning_ on you."

 

* * *

 

They spent the better part of an hour later, they finally left the bridge behind and continued down the path. Queen Bee flew ahead, but it wasn't long before she returned with a pout on her face.

"The trail is gone."

Marinette gasped, and she felt Adrien's hand tighten around her own. The trail was _gone?_ How was that possible? Sure, there had been other places where the trail was annoyingly faint, or wiped out for a short section, or otherwise hard to follow, but Chloe knew better than to get worked up about that. She would have just scouted ahead a bit and found where it picked back up again.

Whatever had happened must have wiped out the trail for some distance.

They all piled into Jade Turtle's shell and he powered after Chloe, racing along with his head down like a racing motorcyclist. They zipped over a ridge and into a valley, then stopped dead. Marinette grabbed on to Adrien and the side of the shell to keep herself in place, then looked up and gaped.

Utter devastation, for kilometers and kilometers.

Clearly there had been mudslide at some point- some point fairly _recently_ , if the lack of plants growing on top was any indication. The mud and rocks had clearly rushed down from one of the nearby mountains, dislodged probably by a heavy rain, and had rushed down the valley. There had been several other mountains that had had smaller mudslides as well, which meant that landscape was wiped out for as far as the eye could see.

"This is actually worse than that bit in the forest where there were too many trails to choose from," Alya said, her eyes huge. "Oh, _gosh_. What are we going to do?"

Jade Turtle surveyed the landscape in front of them. "Well, all we were meant to do for the next day or so was to follow the trail. So the next landmark will be a ways out yet, and if I'm remembering right, this portion of the trail is _very_ curvy. It winds around several mountains and changes direction just that many times." He looked concerned. "It will take us a while to find the trail again. We should perhaps all transform then split up and search in different directions."

"With partners, right?" Nino asked. "Because now I'm really worried that I'll go in the wrong direction and then happen to miss the trail appearing again. And we're gonna have to go pretty far, won't we? What if we get lost?"

Queen Bee scoffed. "I don't need a partner. I'll find the trail all by myself, just watch."

Jade Turtle smiled at them. "You can choose if you want to go with another person or not. I have to admit that it might be faster for people to go alone, but I can admit that it would be more fun and less exhausting to scout as a team."

"Pair with me?" Adrien asked Marinette immediately. "I bet we can find it."

"Dude, branch out a little," Nino told him, then turned back to Alya. "Okay, so, since Mr. Cat here is glued to his girlfriend- pair up to me?"

Queen Bee sniffed. " _I'll_ go on my own. Can I just go now and get started?"

"Patience, patience." Jade Turtle climbed out of his shell. "Let me detransform, and we can stash the bags here. We can refuel all of the kwamis properly- but remember not to use your special powers at all."

"It wouldn't work to Cataclysm the mud?" Mrs. Cheng asked as the rest of them moved in to remove their bags from the shell. "To clear the trail?"

Jade Turtle shook his head. "What was left of the trail likely got swept up as well. Cataclysm would get us down to the solid ground under the looser mud, but I doubt that we would find any clues to where the trail went." He clambered out of the shell and Nino and Adrien ran in to be ready to catch his backpack once he detransformed. In a flash of green, Wayzz was spiraling loose and Master Fu stumbled slightly under the weight of their supplies backpack before Nino and Adrien could haul it off.

"Queen Bee, you should detransform as well to let Pollen recharge," Sabine told the impatient superhero. "You won't get very far if she runs out of power in the middle of a mudslide zone."

"And I would have to _land_ in it and get mud on my shoes, too. Ew!" In a flash of yellow, Chloe detransformed. "And of course, Pollen wouldn't forgive me if I denied her a chance to have actual honey again."

Pollen buzzed excitedly. "Really? What are we doing? Oh, I miss honey!"

"If all of the kwamis could gather round," Master Fu called as Marinette joined her mom in digging through their bag for the food for all of the kwamis. "And all of you guys, too. So everyone is going to transform and scout for the trail. I'll set a marker here so that we can find this spot again, and then I want all of you to do the same. Mark where you start looking on the outskirts of the mudslide, so that everyone knows where other teams started. You know how to set markers, right?"

Adrien and Marinette both nodded. The others looked puzzled.

As Master Fu started to explain how to access the markers, Marinette pulled out the kwami food and put out a serving for each of them. Some of them would no doubt complain that they were still hungry, but they _would_ be powered up enough to stay transformed for a good chunk of time.

"Put out a second serving for each, Marinette," Master Fu told her. "We'll each carry an extra serving with us, so there's no chance of anyone getting stuck somewhere with no way for us to find or contact them."

"Oh, that would be _awful_ ," Adrien said over the sound of Plagg's cheer when he saw his cheese pulled out. "Especially if you weren't with your partner. The only reason we can see each other on our maps when transformed is _because_ of the transformation."

"Exactly. And I don't want to lose anyone out here." Master Fu handed the food out to the kwamis. Plagg fell on his cheese, loudly savoring each bite. Adrien rolled his eyes, looking embarrassed for his kwami.

Soon enough, they were all heading off in different directions, leaving their pile of supplies behind with a blinking green turtle-marker next to them. Ladybug looped her arms around Chat Noir's neck, letting him haul them up into the air. As they went airborne, she glanced back at the others.

Queen Bee zipped off on her own, making a beeline towards a valley opening up behind one of the mountain peaks. Rena Rouge and Paon were heading out in bounds, Rena going for the longest jumps she could manage and Paon doing short glides so that he wouldn't get too far ahead of her. Jade Turtle and Lycaena were zipping away on his shell, which was _much_ smaller than it had been recently.

It made her nervous to be losing sight of the rest of their team- Queen Bee was slowly but steadily turning into a distant yellow dot, and Jade Turtle seemed hell-bent on rivaling a racecar for speed- but at least she had Chat Noir with her. They would be _fine_.

"So I was thinking that we could find the edge of the slide, mark our spot, then go _way_ up and see if we can see anything from the air," Chat Noir called over the sound of the wind rushing past their ears. "We'll get a better vantage point that way."

"Oh, good idea!"

It took longer than Ladybug had expected for them to reach the edge of the mudslide. It was _massive_ , and clearly had been a _major_ event, with several slopes giving way and sliding across the landscape.

"I wonder if it goes this far in all of the other directions," Chat Noir commented as they landed on a rock outcropping near the edge of the slide. "If it does, we could be here for _days_ trying to find the trail."

Ladybug just nodded mutely, glancing around. They had gone around a mountain peak, and were completely ad utterly on their own. She unlatched one of her yo-yos from her waist and flipped it open, taking comfort in seeing the Turtle marker blinking steadily and the dots of the five others moving steadily across the screen. Only Jade Turtle and her mother had set a second marker, which meant that they had found the edge as well.

"Going up?" Chat Noir suggested after a moment. He held out one arm, and Ladybug didn't hesitate to step to his side. His arm went around her waist and hers went around his shoulders, and then they were rising up, and up, and up. They could see for way further, over the ridges and boulders and trees clinging to the rock.

But there was an unanticipated problem. Up this high, it was _crazy_ windy, and Chat Noir was struggling to hold them steady.

"We need guylines or something," Chat Noir managed, leaning one way and then another to try to keep them up. Ladybug clung to him, doing her best to stay out of her partner's way. "To keep us up- oops, going down!"

Ladybug yelped and adjusted her grip on him so that she could pull out a yo-yo and helicopter them down. Chat Noir used his baton to keep them from blowing right into the rocks and guided them down to the ground.

"Maybe that would work better if I used my yo-yos to latch to something," Ladybug suggested as they caught their breath. Chat Noir sent her a slightly dubious look.

"Can your yo-yos even stretch far enough to find a place to latch to?" Chat Noir asked. "It's- well, you would have to latch to stuff on two different peaks, and, uh..."

"Well, we'll have to find out, won't we?" Ladybug wound one arm around Chat Noir's shoulder again. "Ready to go up when you are."

Chat Noir readied his baton, pushing it in through the looser top layer of dirt before they started going up in the air. Just like last time, he pulled Ladybug into his lap when they reached the top and immediately had to start working to keep them upright.

"First line going out!" Ladybug called, winding up and sending her yo-yo flying.

And flying, and flying, and flying some more. Finally, there was a distinct shudder through the line as her yo-yo found something to latch to and tightened. As soon as it did, Ladybug switched which hand was holding on to the line and threw her other yo-yo to make them properly stable. It didn't take quite as long this time for it to find something to attach to, and the difference was immediately apparent.

"That's better," Chat Noir said, adjusting his grip on to his baton as he moved back to center themselves. Now-" He pulled another baton off of his back, grinning at the look on her face. "With the other half of my baton, which I detached before extending this one-"

"Oh, stop being so smug, you," Ladybug grumbled.

"-we can use the zoom feature to get a closer look at the ground," Chat Noir finished. " _And_ we can see where the others are putting their markers, and place a marker of our own. I figure we can just fling it as far as we can and hope that we can get a good look at the area near where it lands."

Ladybug nodded. "Then we can cover a lot of ground, instead of having to walk the entire side." It was a smart move, especially since neither of them had Rena's enhanced jumps (or Paon's long-distance jump-and-glide) nor a way to fly on their own. If she had been on her own, she would have had to either try to get a little bit of a lift using her yo-yos or just _run_ the entire section.

(After hiking for days and days, _running_ was not exactly something that she wanted to do, even if she wouldn't be feeling it later on.)

While Chat Noir held the pole steady, Ladybug used his baton to scan the edge of the mudslide around them, the strings to both of her yo-yos clutched tightly in her other hand. The ground was grey rock, interrupted by small bits of green from the plants springing up through the cracks in the rocks. She worked carefully, not wanting to miss any signs of the trail.

"I _really_ hope this isn't a faded section of trail," Chat Noir commented, wrapping one arm around her waist to keep them steady. "That's the last thing we need on top of this mudslide stuff."

"I'll look out further after I finish scanning the edge of the mudslide," Ladybug assured him. "We'll make sure that this area definitely doesn't have anything of interest before moving on. I can only hope that the others do the same."

She was sure that Alya and Nino would think of it, and Master Fu and her mother were bound to be careful. Chloe...

Well, Chloe _had_ been the one doing a lot of the scouting on her own. While she wouldn't have trusted the Chloe of a few months ago to actually do a good job of looking, Ladybug had to admit that Chloe probably was doing a good job as well.

It also was bound to help that Chloe wouldn't want to miss the trail and cause them to waste another day looking for it. It had been obvious from the start that she just wanted to get the entire camping experience done with as soon as possible, and as such she took her job as scout _very_ seriously.

Ladybug made one slow pass across the landscape through the screen of Chat Noir's baton, and then another. Each time, she moved the focus a bit further out from the edge of the mudslide, hoping to catch a glance of a word-in trail. By the time she was scanning a good half of a kilometer away, Ladybug had to admit that this portion of the landscape was completely free of trails. She took the blinking marker that had popped out of the top of the baton and pitched it, watching as it flew through the air and eventually fell into the dirt, right where she had wanted it to go.

"We'll move on, then," Chat Noir said cheerfully, taking his baton back and clipping it to his back. "Adjust your yo-yos accordingly, and thank you for taking Chat Noir's Elevator Services! I hope you enjoyed your ride."

Ladybug giggled as they started going down. "What if I have a complaint? We _did_ fall on the first trip up, after all."

Chat Noir nodded seriously, making an overly-thoughtful face as they continued downwards. "Well, I suppose you could lodge a complaint with Management, and they can discuss adequate compensation for your troubles."

"Mmm-hmm." Ladybug recalled her yo-yos so that Chat Noir could send them tipping towards their next checkpoint. "And what form does this compensation normally come in?'

"Well, let me think." Chat Noir tapped one long finger against his chin before he was forced to pull his baton up and start helicoptering them in for a light landing. Ladybug wrapped her arms more securely around his shoulders as they came down. "I think in this case, the situation might call for a kiss from your elevator operator."

"Only one?"

Chat Noir laughed as they landed. "Wow, someone is ambitious. Fine, then. _Five_ kisses."

"Wow, a five-hundred-percent increase," Ladybug managed to tease before Chat Noir caught her lips with his own. "Someone was- _mmm_ \- feeling generous."

"Someone's feeling snarky today," Chat Noir teased once they separated. He tapped his lower lip. "You know, I didn't charge a fee for the elevator service-"

Ladybug cut him off with another kiss, doing her best not to laugh at his surprised noise.

"Okay, we should probably get back to work," Ladybug said once they had pulled apart. "I'm guessing that we should be working towards Rena and Paon?"

"Sounds like a plan!"

It didn't take long for them to pole their way into their next position, and then another spot after that, throughout the afternoon. The trail remained stubbornly elusive.

"No one else has had any luck, either," Jade Turtle told them when he called them up, late in the afternoon. He glanced up at the sky, which had been turning steadily greyer. "If there's any rain, set a marker and come back immediately. The soil is loose enough that I don't trust it to not turn dangerous again if it gets saturated again."

"Maybe we should see if we can do longer sweeps," Chat Noir suggested once Jade Turtle hung up. "In case it _does_ rain. I kind of want to get past this entire area. It just creeps me out."

Ladybug nodded her agreement. Most of the Tibetan landscape that they had seen was absolutely gorgeous, either in the everything-is-green-and-alive-and-gorgeous type of way or in the cold-and-beautiful way. But the whole mudslide zone was just _dead_ and brown, brown, brown. It seemed dangerous and unfriendly in a way that the rest of the landscape just hadn't, and, well... it was ugly.

"You're going to have to steady us on the way up if we're going higher than usual," Chat Noir told Ladybug as they bounded into their next position. "Otherwise we'll blow right over, I can tell that now."

Ladybug nodded and threw her yo-yos. They both waited as the spots of red shrunk and then vanished entirely from sight, a full minute before they caught a jagged bit of rock and tightened. Once Ladybug was sure that they were solid, she clambered awkwardly onto Chat Noir's lap.

"It's like- gah, watch your foot- having one of those baby backpacks you carry on your chest," Chat Noir commented as Ladybug got settled, her legs wrapped around his waist and her arms around his shoulders, fingers still clinging to her yo-yo strings. "Just as awkward, too. But I guess it'll work."

They went up, and up, and up. The wind whistled as they got past the protection of the rocks lower down, and Ladybug peeked down at one point only to regret it.

On the plus side, they would be able to see for _ages_. But it wasn't going to be fun, sitting up high and exposed to all of the elements.

As soon as they had drawn to a stop and Ladybug had carefully turned herself around in Chat Noir's lap, Ladybug knew that their worries about the conditions up high were very, _very_ well-founded.

If it weren't for the protections of the suit's magic extending to her uncovered skin, Ladybug was sure that her skin would be dried out and chapped in no time at all. She automatically had her eyes narrowed against the wind, and if it weren't for the need to hold her yo-yo strings _and_ her baton at the same time, she would have her arm up in defense against the howling wind.

"Maybe going this high wasn't a good idea," Chat Noir said in her ear. He sounded a bit out of breath. "We're going to get ourselves sick again. Should I go back down?"

Ladybug nodded. She was starting to feel a bit dizzy herself. "Just a bit, then we'll try it from there. But for the next section, we'll go back to the first height."

"Going down!" They started moving, slow but steady as Chat Noir carefully controlled their descent. "Uh, d'you think the suits protect us from pressure-related injuries? Like, are altitude-related bends a thing?"

Ladybug could only shrug. "I don't know!"

"We'll be careful, then." Chat Noir slowed down more, though Ladybug could feel the quiver in his muscles as he worked to focus on making sure that they didn't go too fast. "Can you keep an eye out for the trail while we're moving?"

Ladybug nodded against his shoulder. She took out the free half of his baton again and started scanning the ground below again, starting at the edge where they had last left off. Before long, though, she had to shake her head and put the baton down.

"Are you okay?"

"I need some time on the ground," Ladybug admitted. "The air was _way_ too thin up there. I was getting dizzy, and then feeling us moving down while scanning back and forth... _ugh_. But I _did_ at least scan as far as that broken tree right there, and there was nothing there."

Chat Noir patted her head comfortingly- or at least she assumed that that was what he was trying to do by gently knocking his chin against the side of her head. "I can do the scanning for the next bit, once we've had a rest. You can just focus on holding onto me and your yo-yos."

"Oh, thank _goodness._ "

They landed a little unsteadily and promptly flopped down on the ground, relaxing and trying to get rid of the dizzy feeling. Ladybug propped her head up on Chat Noir's thigh, staring up at the sky.

"I wonder how the others are doing," Chat Noir said after a minute. She could feel him shift under her as he arched to slide his baton off of his back. His claws tapped against his screen as he navigated to the map of the area. "Ah."

Ladybug turned her head to look at him. "What?"

"Well, your mom and Master Fu are doing well. They've covered pretty much the entire upper quarter of the east edge and are getting decently close to where Chloe started. She's covered maybe two-thirds of the ground between where she started and where we did. And Nino and Alya...are going slower. I mean, they've covered a decent amount of ground, of course, but I can tell that their abilities aren't exactly designed for long-distance speed." He snorted. "Funny that the Turtle _is_ , honestly."

"Well, they can't fly," Ladybug pointed out. "Not for long distances, at least. And they don't have our ability to scan large areas by going up in the air. We're working towards them, so at least everything will get covered."

"Yeah." Chat Noir pushed himself back up to sitting and looked down at Ladybug. "Ready to go back up?"

"Oh, if we _must_."

This time, they kept the height reasonable. Chat Noir scanned the landscape below, getting most of the way across before letting out an excited little noise.

Ladybug perked up. "Did you see something?"

"I think so!" Chat Noir was practically vibrating with excitement. He did a quick scan of the rest of the area, just in case, and then put the loose section of his baton back on his back. "Okay, loosen those yo-yo strings and we'll go investigate!"

Ladybug recalled her yo-yos, feeling the lines loosen as Chat Noir started to tip them forward. By the time they landed, both yo-yos had fallen into her hands. They eagerly started forward to check on the trail Chat Noir had seen.

As it turned out, it was not a trail. Instead, it was just the meandering path of an ephemeral stream, worn down through erosion and looking rather trail-like from the air.

Chat Noir groaned. "I really thought I had it there."

"It _did_ look more like a trail than any of the other runoff areas we've been past." Ladybug kicked the ground, pushing the dirt into a little mound. "I guess we just keep going, then?"

Chat Noir nodded.

Ladybug was feeling a bit defeated as they made their way to their next vantage point. They had been looking for _hours_ , all seven of them. A good deal of ground had been covered, and nothing had been spotted yet. There was still hope, of course- Ladybug checked her yo-yo to see that each of the other groups still had some area left to check, and of course they hadn't run into Nino and Alya yet- but her optimism was starting to wear thin.

What would they do if they couldn't find the trail again? They had lost several hours- most of their afternoon, really- searching. The terrain wasn't the best in this area, with craggy mountain peaks of all sizes poking up around them and smaller swells of hills and ravines cracking open in other places. Even with as careful as they were, it would be easy to miss a worn trail in the stone and dirt. She doubted that they would give up, but how many days would they have to spend combing the area to pick up the trail?

"Master Fu and my mom are headed back in," Ladybug reported as Chat Noir started hauling them up into the air again, ten minutes later. She swiped to the side to see the others. "And Chloe is almost done with her bit."

She didn't miss the concerned look on Chat Noir's face. Clearly he had the same worries she did about not finding the path today. "And what about Nino and Alya?"

"We're getting pretty close to Nino and Alya. We might be able to see them when we're up in the air."

"Oof. We've gotta find it this time, then." Chat Noir pulled them up onto the top of his extended baton as Ladybug got them anchored. "What do you think the chances are that the trail hasn't already gotten missed? D'you think a Lucky Charm would help us find it if no one spots it?"

Ladybug gave it a bit of thought. "Maybe? I don't know. I would have to ask Tikki. But we can bring it up if we can't find the trail." She slid the small end of Chat Noir's baton off of his back and started scanning, making sure to overlap her scan a bit with the area she had looked at in the previous sweep before following the edge of the mudslide as far as she could. When she got to the end and glanced up shortly before continuing her search, Ladybug's eye caught on a dot of orange and a dot of blue-green coming over a ridge, just barely visible.

"Rena and Paon spotted," Ladybug reported, giving a cheeky little wave in case their friends were looking before returning to her task. A second sweep, slightly farther out, turned up nothing. Sighing, Ladybug adjusted her position on Chat Noir's lap- after so many hours of lap-sitting, it was getting _significantly_ less comfortable, because Chat Noir was skinny and bony and so was she- and adjusted the focus to a bit further out for one last sweep. She had gotten most of the way across when she let out a triumphant shout.

Chat Noir startled and nearly fell off of the baton. "What? Did you find it?"

"I'm almost positive! Look, look, right there!" Ladybug handed the short baton to him and practically vibrated in excitement. "It's on rock, too-"

"I see it!" Grinning, Chat Noir latched the short baton on his back and gestured for her to free her yo-yos. "And if Rena and Paon haven't seen it yet, they will soon. Let's go!"

Ladybug laughed as she clung to Chat Noir's shoulders. "It isn't a race!"

"It is now!"

It was obvious when Rena and Paon noticed them, because suddenly they were moving forward with more purpose. Chat Noir barked out a laugh and pushed them forward even faster, towards where they had seen the trail. They flew out over the edge of the mudslide zone, right over Rena Rouge and Paon, and landed all tangled in a heap on the clear bit of trail they had spotted. Seconds later, their friends pounced on top of them in one cheering pile.

"Oh, and we thought about coming out in this area first," Rena Rouge was saying as they untangled themselves to flop more comfortably on the ground. "And then we decided to turn and work towards you guys instead. Worst decision _ever_."

"We could see you guys that last time, up in the air," Paon told Chat Noir. "And we saw Ladybug wave. That was smart of you guys, to be looking like that. We just had to run and try to look at the same time."

"And then at another time, we had stopped to take a break and we looked at the map just to see how everyone was doing, right?" Rena told them. "And we saw that you guys were, like, straight out from us, kind of- there were some peaks between us, of course, but there was also a bit of a gap in the peaks and we were kind of in a high spot, so this guy-" she bumped Paon- "was messing around with the zoom on his fan and saw you guys, like, _way_ up in the sky at one point."

"You didn't stay up for long," Paon added with a laugh. "I'm surprised that we didn't find the two of you barfing on the ground. You were _way_ up, dudes."

"It seemed like a good idea at the time," Chat Noir admitted. "And it _is_ a good idea in theory. Get higher up, be able to see farther, be able to move longer distances between checkpoints. Not so much when we got up there, though."

Rena sniggered. "The air a bit thin for you?"

"It _was_ a bit windy."

" _That's_ an understatement," Ladybug agreed, just as her yo-yo buzzed loudly. She pulled it out and answered right away. "Hey, Master Fu! Great timing! Guess what- we found the trail!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone confused (well, anyone who didn't just Google it right away), _Lycaena_ is the genus name for Copper butterflies. _Lycaena helle_ is the Violet Copper which I thought was really fitting for the Butterfly Miraculous.
> 
> The next update for this story will be a TNCIT Outtakes ft. Alya and Nino getting their Miraculous! Like with the PATBC Outtakes, those chapters will be contained in a separate story.
> 
> Let me know what you thought! Reviews always make my day! :)


	7. Chapter 7

As far as methods for fully waking someone up in the morning went, a ride with Jade Turtle when the old man knew exactly where he was going and went that way at top speed while zig-zagging around obstacles worked _very_ well.

A little _too_ well, in fact. It had woken Nino's stomach up, too, but he managed to keep everything down for the entire ride from their campsite to the start of the trail that they had found the previous evening.

"I'm never going to get used to that," Nino muttered as they all piled out of the shell. He had liked the shell rides _much_ better when they were going slower, or at least in a straighter line. "Never, _never_ -"

Next to him, Adrien was looking a bit green as well. His best friend clearly was really susceptible to getting carsick... though perhaps that had less to do with the moving and more to do with Jade Turtle's crazy driving.

"And now we continue our hike," Jade Turtle was telling them, beaming. "I believe the trail dips into lower elevations soon, which should be nice. It may go down quite quickly at some point today."

Nino interpreted that as _we're going to have to be in the turtle shell going down a cliff again_ and tried not to groan.

"I wonder how my parents got past this," Adrien said as they started walking, some more steadily than others. He gestured to the massive spread of tumbled dirt and rocks behind them. "It would have taken them probably _weeks_ , unless they just happened to go in the right direction on their first time."

"Unless the slide wasn't here when they came by the first time," Marinette pointed out. Nino frowned, puzzled, and Adrien didn't look any less confused.

"Huh?"

"We figured out before that your parents must have done several trips, each time going a bit further out," Marinette pointed out. "They probably came through here years ago, when the trail was still there. And maybe they came through again after the mudslide, but they already knew where it went more or less."

Nino nodded his agreement. Marinette had a _very_ good point. But there was still something that wasn't ringing _quite_ right to him about their assumed version of events with Mr. and Mrs. Agreste's trips to try to find the temple. He hadn't really said anything about it because, well, it didn't really _matter_ , not now that they were out in the middle of the wilderness and couldn't exactly just go and rummage through Mr. Agreste's files some more. But as they hiked farther and farther out, it was becoming _very_ apparent that, had Mr. and Mrs. Agreste _really_ hiked out from the start every time, their last trip would have seen them gone from Paris for probably close to two months if not longer. While he was transformed the previous day, he had pulled up an article on his fan about Mrs. Agreste's disappearance and, well...

Unless Mr. Agreste could teleport, he had been gone for _way_ too short of a time- only about two weeks. Nino wouldn't be surprised if there was some other method of transportation involved, both that time and the others. They had already gone off-trail a couple times on accident, following a path stomped down by antelopes or some other animal for a bit before discovering their mistake, and it had eaten up time even though they had just hopped in Jade Turtle's shell and zipped back to the proper path to try again. It would take significantly longer to correct mistakes like that when traveling strictly on foot, with no superpowers, which in _turn_ meant that each of Mr. and Mrs. Agreste's trips would no doubt be _very_ long, unless they had been airlifted out or something every time.

(Nino had to wonder at how on earth Mr. Agreste had tolerated the trips at all. He did not seem the outdoorsy type, even less so than Chloe, and from what he could tell, Chloe was only _barely_ tolerating the trip.)

But again, since they couldn't exactly schedule a helicopter ride while out in the middle of nowhere with no cell reception (Chloe's satellite phone case and their weapons notwithstanding), it didn't _matter_.

As usual, Chloe was practically frothing at the bit to be able to transform and fly ahead. She hadn't had a meltdown like she had on their first day of hiking since then, but it was easy to see that she hadn't warmed up to traditional hiking at all in that time. Nino hadn't ever thought he would be saying it, but Chloe Bourgeois was actually being... _bearable_.

They still had plenty of time left in their trip for that to change again, though, so Nino wasn't going to start making a friendship bracelet for Chloe or anything.

"I hope we don't have to do anything like that again," Adrien told Nino mid-morning as they walked together. Alya and Marinette were hiking together up ahead, giggling about something. "I was so worried that we would be stuck there for ages, trying to find where the trail went."

"Well, I don't think that mudslides that size are that common." Nino might be wrong about that, of course, but he was _pretty_ certain that the sheer size of the slide had just been sheer luck and perfect topography to ensure it went far. "But we might have to deal with more faint bits of trail, probably. I'm honestly just shocked that so much of it is left after so many years."

"Well, the soil must have gotten packed down by people walking over it," Adrien suggested. "And there might have been magic involved, to get it established at first so that people didn't get lost. In fact, I'm _betting_ that there was magic involved, because otherwise it _would_ have faded away between groups being brought out." They fell quiet for a minute, just walking along, and then he added, "I wonder why the kwamis didn't know which way to go when we hit the mudslide zone. You would think that they would, even after being dormant."

Nino grinned. For once, he knew the answer to something Miraculous-related that Adrien didn't. "Master Fu told us! He said that while the Upper Seven holders _did_ sometimes go and help ferry recruits, it wasn't often. The lower-level Miraculous holders went most often, and of course they tended to like being transformed for a lot of the journey, so their kwamis might not know the path that well anyway. Master Fu told us that early on, when _most_ of us were flying in his shell and you and Marinette were trying to be tough," Nino added. He grinned and bumped Adrien's shoulder. "Showing off, were you?"

Adrien shrugged, a bashful smile hiding in the corners of his lips. "Maybe. Or maybe there were already enough sweaty, smelly people crammed in that shell and I didn't want to deal with that."

Nino winced at the memory, because Adrien _did_ have a point. He was honestly surprised that Chloe hadn't opted to walk that day, or at the very least shove them all out of the shell, because they _had_ smelled, particularly him and Alya since they had hiked for the longest before giving in and hopping in the shell (excluding Adrien and Marinette, of course, but they had never given up and jumped in for a ride). "Yeah, I hope we can use our sun showers things soon, because I _need_ to wash. I don't care about my hair, really, but I don't want to stink up my sleeping bag or our tent. That'll just make the rest of the trip awful."

Adrien nodded his agreement, running a hand through his hair with a wince. "Yeah. Either that, or another rain shower. I'd take that, even."

Nino grinned and elbowed Adrien, just to rib him a bit. "Yeah, you're really down from your three showers a day, aren't you- _hey!_ "

"Boys, behave," Mrs. Cheng called back to them, and Adrien released Nino's head from the hold he had it in. "Do I need to come back there?"

"No, Adrien was just demonstrating how badly he needs a wash," Nino called back, just because he could. Adrien's splutter of betrayal was the exact reaction Nino had wanted. His feeling of triumph only grew when he heard Marinette and Alya laugh.

"I'm getting a new best friend," Adrien grumbled. "One that doesn't _make fun of me_ for things that they know were bad excuses so I could go sneak away to _save the day, thank-you-very-much_."

"I've definitely heard Marinette teasing you about that, too," Nino pointed out, grinning. "Will you be getting a new girlfriend then, too?"

"No, because Marinette doesn't tease me half as much as you do."

Nino cackled. "That's a lie and you know it." As a couple, Marinette and Adrien teased each other quite a lot, and it was pretty funny to watch. They never went _too_ far with it, as Nino had seen other couples do, and the banter was A+, as Nino had always expected from the superhero duo. They definitely had fun with it, and neither one ever came out feeling bad about any of the teasing.

Adrien just shrugged.

As they continued to hike, Nino did his best to ignore the residual ache in his legs. Having been transformed for the entirety of the previous afternoon had helped- being transformed meant that the effects of any physical activity weren't really felt- but it hadn't _completely_ erased the effects of all of the hiking that they had done before that.

(Well, it wasn't _completely_ true to say that the effects of the previous afternoon's activity didn't have an effect on him at all. He had burned more calories and his leg muscles would be in better shape for the exercise, but there was no pain. It was quite a good way to exercise, in Nino's opinion. No pain, still get the gains. If it weren't for the fact that they were rationing the kwami food, Nino would spend all of his time transformed.)

But they would be hiking for all of the day, unless the storm that had been threatening finally broke and forced them to end early. As much as Nino would welcome another afternoon off (or "off", as in traveling only via superhero transformation), though, he knew that Adrien would probably vibrate out of his skin with impatience if they were delayed again. And he couldn't even blame Adrien for that, because Nino probably would have done the same if it was one of his family members.

They could rest once they retrieved Adrien's mother and got back to Paris. And Nino was planning on doing quite a bit of resting, honestly. The mayor had invited Chloe's classmates to come use his hotel's pool when they wanted, and Nino wasn't going to do anything except lie around on one of those lovely lounge chairs and drink in the sun and be lazy for at least a _week_ once they got back.

(From some of the comments he had overheard, Nino suspected that he would be sharing the deck lounge with Chloe, but that was fine. As long as they managed to not _entirely_ piss each other off during their trip, they could probably manage to tolerate each other's presence for a bit longer.)

"I wonder what fraction of the way we've gotten," Adrien commented after another bit. "I mean, we've had Chloe helping us do little shortcuts, but we've also had the times where we went off-trail, and that day we lost, and then all of yesterday afternoon."

"It probably depends on how bad or good the trail is later on," Nino pointed out. "If it's easy to follow, Master Fu might decide to just have us transform and run a distance to get it over with faster. That's what _I_ would have us do. If it's covered in grass, well..." And then there was the issue of the fact that the last chunk of instructions was just straight-up missing. Either the trail just went out completely, or it just became too obvious to miss, or Mr. and Mrs. Agreste just hadn't had the chance to write anything down before Mrs. Agreste got booby-trapped.

Master Fu hadn't mentioned what their plan was for that bit. Hopefully there _was_ a plan, because Nino really didn't _want_ to send his entire summer wandering aimlessly around in circles to try to find a magically-protected temple in a hidden valley and besides, they only had a limited amount of food with them. They _couldn't_ spend the entire summer searching. And even with the emails that he and Alya had sent on Chloe's phone the night before, telling their families that they were having a _lovely_ time with Marinette's family but had to drive for ages to get to an internet café so couldn't be in contact often, their parents would start wondering when they were coming home.

(Nino was endlessly thankful for Chloe's phone, actually. His parents would probably _freak_ if he vanished off of the face of the earth for a month with no communication.)

"I hope the trail stays good," Adrien said. "If we can go fast, that would be _fantastic_. I like covering a lots of ground. And maybe there'll be days when Chloe's scouting can make us get a few days ahead of schedule. We can always hope."

Nino nodded. He hoped that Adrien was right.

The path continued, rolling over a gentle rise and then along a decently-sized ledge above a ravine. Alya nearly gave Nino a heart attack when he saw her lean out over the ledge to try to snap a picture of the valley below and nearly lose her balance. Before Alya could do any more than wobble dangerously, Marinette's arm snapped out and hauled her friend back.

"Surprise, surprise, we _did_ develop superhero reflexes after a bit," Adrien said with a laugh, making Nino realize that his mouth had been hanging open in surprise. He quickly shut it. "Even Marinette. It's really only when she's in a rush that she trips over her own feet."

"Yeah, I know you're good at catching her." Nino had seen it a hundred times since Adrien and Marinette really became friends. It had gotten to the point where Nino was certain that his best friend had somehow developed a Marinette-is-about-to-trip sense. "Has she caught _you_ before?"

Adrien grinned sheepishly. "Well, she _might_ have had to keep me from tripping over my own feet after kissing me for the first time."

Nino had to laugh. "You are such a complete sap, man."

There was a distinctly Plagg-like cackle from Adrien's backpack and a "You don't even _know_."

Nino laughed harder.

Mid-afternoon, their group came upon another cliff face. Master Fu took one look at the tiny ledge winding down the steep drop and lowered his turtle shell, ushering them in. Chloe transformed and perched on the edge of the cliff, waiting for the rest of them to be ready.

"You coming, Nino?" Marinette asked as she carefully got in and settled in Adrien's lap. She patted the space next to her. "There's plenty of room!"

"Yeah, I think I'll pass," Nino said, remembering the stomach-churning ride that morning and the equally disconcerting trip down the previous cliff. He had hated both, and had come up with a _fantastic_ alternative so that he wouldn't have to do _that_ again so soon. "Duusu, transform me!"

"Wait, what are you doing?" Alya wanted to know. She glanced cautiously over the edge. "Are you going to try to fly down?"

Paon shook his head, giddy with his idea. "No, no. Peacocks can't fly that far, so I'd probably drop like a rock after a few seconds. Not, I'm going to _jump_ down the cliff, going from here, then gliding down to that little rock outcropping, then jumping and gliding from there to that wider bit on the path, then like that all the way down!" Paon grinned. "It's foolproof. And I'll like it better when I can control my own descent, I think."

Alya just rolled her eyes and patted his arm. "Have fun, then."

Paon just grinned and leaned a little further out, trying to chart the rest of his course down. He'd want to jump probably eight times, or maybe even ten, if he wanted to _really_ control his descent well. There were some places that would be a bit hard to land in- he didn't even want to imagine trying to _walk_ down that path while detransformed, talk about _scary_ \- but he could manage it.

Probably.

"Last chance to get aboard the turtle-vator!" Adrien called, and Paon glanced over to see Queen Bee already flying easily downwards and the others piled into Jade Turtle's shell. He gave them a cheerful wave, then turned and jumped.

And nearly slid off the rock on his very first landing. Paon flailed for a second before finding his footing, hoping desperately that no one had seen that. It was probably a wasted hope, but oh well.

Giving himself a little shake, Paon gave the descending turtle-shell another cheery wave, then jumped again. He soared, doing his best not to look down at the still-quite-impressive drop below, then readied himself to land on the narrow shelf.

Which he would have done, had his arm not knocked against the cliff face and sent him off course. Suddenly, instead of soaring and landing, Paon was tumbling down, down, down, doing his best to catch his footing and failing miserably. He hit one jutting rock with a bit more force, and then he was tumbling through midair instead of against the cliff.

He hit the ground with a _thud_ and some crunching noises that Paon _desperately_ hoped were rocks or plants or _anything_ except his bones. He didn't _feel_ anything particularly broken, though- and he had broken a bone before, when he fell out of a tree as a kid, so he knew what it felt like. And he could still move his fingers and toes, he could tell that much, so all signs pointed to the crunching not belonging to him.

Still, Paon couldn't resist closing his eyes and letting out a whole string of curses, just to let off some steam. That fall had _not_ made him look cool, not at all.

Someone poked his head, hard, and then there was a distinctly Queen Bee-ish yell of "He's cursing, so he must be fine. Stop your screaming already."

The yells, which Paon had only vaguely registered before (he had had more important things to worry about, thank-you-very-much), quieted. He opened his eyes to see Queen Bee flouncing away to perch daintily on a rock, inspecting the ends of her gloves like she normally would inspect her fingernails. Above her, the floating shell was descending quickly. Five heads poked out over the sides, staring down at him in worry. Paon hastily sat up and arranged his cape-wings around him in a less haphazard manner, then shot the group on the shell a grin and a thumbs-up.

Queen Bee snorted. Apparently he didn't look even half as suave as he had hoped to.

By the time the rest of their group got to the ground, Paon had hauled himself to his feet and detransformed, doing his best not to look rattled. Duusu was grumbling moodily, apparently disgruntled that one of his birds had been so undignified.

"It _would_ have looked really cool if I hadn't hit the wall,"Nino argued as he picked his way over piles of rocks to join the rest of the group. "It was just that I'm not very good at landing in cramped spaces yet."

"And you will most certainly not be practicing more on any sheer cliffs," Sabine scolded as she jumped out of the shell and hurried over to him. "Are you okay? That was a nasty fall, and I could see you hit your head several times."

"I was transformed, I didn't feel a thing," Nino promised. "Or, well, it didn't _hurt_. The only thing bruised is my ego."

"And _mine_ ," Duusu grumbled, pouting. " _Ugh_. You would have been better off just trying to glide in wide circles down to the bottom. Which I would have _told_ you, if you had told me what you were thinking _before_ you transformed."

Nino winced. _Whoops_.

"Well, if there are no broken bones, then no harm is done," Jade Turtle called as Alya rushed over to Nino's side as well. "We must be continuing down the trail. Come along, everyone."

 

* * *

 

The next day, Nino woke feeling sore as usual but refreshed. They had finished hiking a little on the early side the previous evening and each took a short shower while the rest of the group cooked dinner.

The showers had been colder than they had hoped- Nino couldn't deny that a few choice words had slipped past his lips when the first spray of water from the sun shower bag hit him- but at least it got the dust from the trail and their stinky sweat off of them. Alya had complained afterwards that even with her shortened hair, it was hard to wash all of the shampoo out, and so Sabine had trimmed her hair a bit shorter yet.

"Your hair-tails when you transform won't be half as cool-looking as before," Trixx complained as they ate breakfast. He flew around his Chosen's head, pouting as he did. "It's short now!"

"It'll grow back out," Alya promised as Sabine clipped the last chunk of her hair to match the rest. "And it grows fast, I promise. And I'm already liking this style better for summer, anyway. My hair gets _really_ hot on my neck when I don't put it up."

Nino ran a hand through his hair, glad that it was so short. He hadn't had any problems with it, unlike literally _everyone_ else on the trip (well, except for Master Fu). There was no hair to stick to his neck from sweat, or be sticky from leftover shampoo, or make his neck warm. He would be in dire need of a trim by the time they finished the trip, but he would survive.

"Hurry, please," Master Fu called. The old man was moving as fast as he could- surprisingly fast, really, considering how fragile-looking he appeared and how positively _ancient_ he was- packing thinks away back in their large backpack of supplies. Wayzz was sipping at his tea, nipping at the dried pea pods they had brought for him between long sips. "It's still quite cloudy, and something has shifted in the air. I wouldn't be surprised if it starts raining within the next few hours, so we want to get going while the going is good."

Adrien was up immediately, shoveling the last few bites of his breakfast into his mouth as he brought his bowl over to Sabine to be wiped out and rinsed. Marinette wasn't far behind, even though she looked like she wasn't quite awake yet. Nino started chewing faster, feeling a bit bad about how slowly he had been eating.

"Nino, can I pack your stuff up?" Adrien called across their camp, already halfway inside their tent. "Just to get done faster?"

"Go ahead!" Nino chewed at super-speed, wincing as Alya finished and he was the only one left sitting in their breakfast circle. Chloe was already collapsing her tent, looking disgruntled and tired.

Nino wondered at what point in the night she had realized that she had set up on a small slope. He was guessing that she had probably been slipping off of her sleeping pad all night...aaaand maybe he should have said something. Chloe was bound to be grouchy with less sleep, unlike Marinette who tended to just be slower on the uptake and have less of a filter when running on not enough sleep. That wasn't going to be fun.

"Hey, Master Fu?" Nino asked suddenly, struck with an idea. "Would it be possible, do you think, for someone to sleep in the shell while you're flying it?"

Master Fu looked surprised at the question. "Why yes, of course. And I would even be extra-careful steering if I had someone trying to nap. Why, did you not get enough sleep?"

Nino shook his head. "Nah, not for me. For Chloe." He pointed. "I don't think she set her tent up in the best spot."

"Aha." Master Fu looked from Nino to Chloe and back. "Well, my answer still stands. Perhaps you should go suggest the idea to Chloe before she gets everything entirely packed away."

Groaning a little (inside, of course, Nino wasn't going to let Master Fu see him complain), Nino got up, bringing his empty bowl over to Sabine before heading over to where Chloe was scowling and rolling up her tent. "Uh, Chloe-"

" _What_."

"I just wanted to let you know that Master Fu said that people could sleep in the shell if they need more sleep," Nino said, backing away slightly from Chloe's glare. "So if you wanted to keep your sleeping bag and whatnot out..."

Chloe perked up immediately. "Oh! Okay. I call dibs," she added quickly. "I slept _horribly_ last night, and it's _summer_. I should be sleeping in every day, not getting up at the crack of dawn."

Nino just nodded, flashed Chloe an awkward double thumbs-up, and retreated to help Adrien take their tent down.

"That was nice of you," Adrien told him as they collapsed the tent poles and slid them into the bag. "She's had just enough sleep to have some bite to her. I was worried that she might be a danger to herself practically sleepwalking."

"And you aren't worried about Marinette doing the same thing?"

Adrien laughed. "Oh, you know she's always like this when she wakes up. And she has the rest of us keeping an eye on her until she wakes up properly. She'll be fine."

It only took a short time to break camp, and then they were on the trail again. Chloe had piled her sleeping pad, bag, and pillow into Jade Turtle's turtle shell and had promptly curled up, slipped on her satin sleep mask, and fallen asleep. The rest of them were doing their best to keep their voices down, but it was hard when they spotted a large bird circling high up above or a herd of wild _somethings_ down in the next valley over. It was even harder when they hit a stretch of clearly defined trail and they managed to persuade Jade Turtle that it would be a good idea to let them transform and speed along that section instead of hiking it.

"Well, I guess it couldn't hurt," Jade Turtle had laughed, waving them on. "We _do_ want to get a good amount of travel in before the rain starts, after all."

Paon grinned as he half-ran, half flew after Rena Rouge. The cool air felt good against his skin as he glided and landed, the ground almost blurring below him as he pushed himself forward faster and faster. Frustratingly, it didn't make the next distant set of mountain peaks appear to get closer any faster, but Paon knew that it _was_ helping.

He couldn't run this fast as Nino, and certainly couldn't fly. As long as the path kept up like this, they would shave off _hours_.

"I wish we could do this _every_ day," Chat Noir called from behind them, and Paon glanced behind to see him and Ladybug working in tandem, Chat Noir propelling them up into the air with his baton and then tipping them forward, and then Ladybug slowing their descent downwards with her twirling yo-yo until Chat Noir pushed them into the air again. They weren't going full-out, he was pretty sure, but instead matching his and Rena's speed.

That was pretty impressive, really. And if they had been in a city, with buildings and ledges galore for Ladybug to latch on to, there would be no keeping up with them, _ever,_ not unless the senior superheroes chose to slow down a little.

Maybe it was just because they were more used to their abilities and had had the better part of a year to learn how to use them more efficiently. Maybe with a bit of practice (Duusu had said something about flapping instead of just gliding, though like most peacocks he wouldn't be able to fly _long_ distances), he and Rena Rouge would be able to go faster.

Still, good things couldn't last forever. Three times they had to slow down for a section that was harder to follow, and by lunchtime they were back to hiking as their normal selves. Chloe had woken up by that time, apparently oblivious to how much ground they had covered.

Speaking of which, Nino really wanted to know how far they had gone. It was hard to tell when they were covering fairly flat ground and their only real landscape markers were a couple trees here and there and the mountains in the distance.

And, well, Nino wasn't good at guesstimating distance in the first place. He had grown up in the city and hadn't really done a lot of hiking, and what little he _had_ done was done in forests, so he couldn't exactly see much of the trail in front of or behind himself.

"It looks like the trail goes back to being clear again," Pollen reported when they were cleaning up from lunch. She had gone exploring while they ate since she had spent the morning resting in a nest that she had made out of Chloe's hair. "So you can run again!"

Chloe groaned loudly. "You guys were _running?_ Count me out. I'm not going to risk breaking my ankle or something. I'll _fly_ , thank you very much."

"That's what we were doing, Chloe," Adrien explained. "We figured that since the trail was really obvious, it would make sense to transform and follow it as fast as we could. I don't get why it would suddenly be better out here," he added, glancing towards Master Fu. "I mean, it's more packed down, it seems. Stuff isn't growing as much on it, even though it's been _ages_ since anyone used it. Why would some sections be better?"

"My guess is that- well, to start with, the trails were established using some measure of magic to keep the dirt compacted and clear of plants. Some sections have had the magic worn off- it would hardly wear evenly- or some event was strong enough to wash it out. A mudslide, for example. Or even some loose dirt that's washed onto the trail and accumulated over time. Plants would not be able to root deeply in those areas, but there _could_ be grass or small flowers." Master Fu gestured to the bit of trail that they could see, which had short plants starting to encroach in places. "And as I recall, the leaders went lighter on the spells and created thinner trails when they went through areas that were a bit closer to villages, to decrease the chance of a curious villager stumbling upon them. Or to keep an enemy from finding a trail leading directly to the temples."

"Wait, so will the trails near the temples be really thin and hard to find, then?" Chloe wanted to know. "Or will they be really obvious, since it's clearly nowhere near any people whatsoever?"

Master Fu shook his head. "Once you get close, there _are_ no trails. We would simply know the way. I... am _hoping_ that I remember the path in well enough to find it even without a trail."

They all exchanged worried looks. There was nothing that they would be able to do about that to help once they got to that point, really. Maybe with all seven of them, they could just wander around a bit and stumble upon the valley?

That was what Adrien's parents must have done, so it _could_ work.

"Let's get going again, then," Master Fu told them, interrupting their exchange of concerned looks. "The air is getting damper, and we want to get as far as we can today."

There was a scramble as everyone polished off the last of their food and dumped leftovers and dishes into their backpack of supplies. Nino helped Master Fu put the backpack back on and transform, and then they were on the trail again.

"Are you going to transform again soon?" Duusu asked politely, perching on Nino's shoulder. "Or not yet?"

"I think we will once the trail gets better again." Even though he was a little loath to admit it, it would be _very_ easy to completely miss seeing this particular section of the trail if they were going fast. Dirt had apparently washed over the spelled trail at some point and now there was a short layer of grass and moss and tiny little forbs and while it wasn't hard to follow or anything, it _would_ blend in if they were going at the same speed that they had been going earlier.

 _Especially_ with the taller grasses alongside the path leaning over it and obscuring the trail from view.

Pollen was buzzing around impatiently as they hiked along. "It clears up really soon," she insisted. "Can't we just transform and get going?"

"Does she like being transformed that much?" Nino asked Duusu. "I would have thought she would be tired of that by now."

Duusu snorted. "Oh, she just wants to get out and get this over with as fast as Chloe does. I bet that she gets premium honeycomb or something back in Paris and she wants to get back to that."

Up ahead, Chloe had transformed and was flying ahead, clearly deciding to listen to her kwami instead of Jade Turtle. Nino watched with one eye, wondering how soon she would hit the clearer section.

"Well, if nothing else, she'll get far enough ahead soon that we'll get to transform and speed ahead to catch up," Adrien pointed out, coming up behind Nino. "Which isn't a bad idea, really. And- oh, there she goes!"

The yellow blob that was Chloe had clearly done a cheerful little loop-the-loop and was speeding ahead. An orange streak jumped cleanly over Nino's head, landing far ahead of Master Fu and launching back into the air again after Chloe. Jade Turtle sped up as well, and then the rest of the group was scrambling to transform and catch up. Ladybug and Chat Noir went soaring by, and Chat Noir even turned around to wave cheekily at the rest of the group for a moment before extending his baton to send them into the air again.

Paon was going to have _words_ with his friend about being so _smug_ about how fast he and Ladybug could go.

Queen Bee was still far, far ahead when Paon felt the first drops of rain hit his face. He glanced skywards, then pushed himself even faster. The sky had turned rather dark, like it was spoiling for a downpour, and they did _not_ want to be out in it if it was properly raining.

And then the skies opened, and it _poured_.

Paon _squawked_ (he wasn't ashamed to admit it) and pushed himself forward faster, feeling the burn in his legs and arms as he flapped frantically, trying to go even faster. As he did, he almost tripped over Jade Turtle, who had slowed momentarily to call the trio still out front. After a moment of deliberation, Paon settled himself in the rapidly-forming puddle in the shell and pulled out his fans, extending them to try to cover Jade Turtle and keep most of the rain out of the shell.

After all, they _did_ have a rain cover over the bags. They didn't have anything _under_ the pile of backpacks, which meant that whoever was unlucky enough to have their things on the bottom was likely to not have anything dry to change into if they let water get in.

Chat Noir answered first, and Paon could tell that he and Queen Bee were huddled under Ladybug as she used her yo-yo to keep the majority of the rain off of them. His hair was plastered to his face, and he looked less than happy. His cat ears had even flattened themselves to his hair, Paon noticed with some amusement.

"The rain is coming down super-hard," Chat Noir called over the roar of the rain. His head whipped around, looking around the large field that they were in. "And there's no shelter!"

"That's fine!" Jade Turtle called back, speeding up again. "The tents will provide shelter- oh!" With the next gust of rain had come a smattering of pea-sized hail. "Oh, we don't want to be out in this, the tents will get ripped to shreds. Can you see _any_ shelter up there? Any trees?"

There was some muffled conversation on the other end, and then Queen Bee came into the frame as Rea Rouge slipped into the shell next to Paon. "There's a group of trees a bit up ahead. They aren't _huge_ trees, but it's _something_. I don't want to be out in this mess for any longer than I have to!"

"Okay, then go to the trees. We'll get there soon." The shell wobbled as Lycaena joined them under the shelter of Paon's fans. "And then we'll put up our tarp to make a bit of shelter. Sound good?"

"We'll do that!"

The connection clicked off, and Jade Turtle started moving faster. Soon enough Paon had to retract his fans, because it was too hard to hold them in place with the wind catching the edge. Instead, the four of them huddled down against the hail, moving so fast that the ground properly blurred. It wasn't long before they were screeching to a halt in front of the copse of trees, and they all hopped out so Jade Turtle could shrink his shell down enough to get between the trees. Queen Bee, Chat Noir, and Ladybug were all hunkered down under the largest of the trees. They perked up when they saw the rest of the group arrive, but it was Ladybug who finally moved out from under their temporary shelter first to help Rena Rouge dig for their large tarp.

"Cats don't like water," was Chat Noir's excuse to Paon when he saw his raised eyebrows. "And I'll help put the tarp up, too, so you can stop giving me that look."

"I'll help with that, too." Paon reached over his girlfriend's shoulder to grab one corner of the tarp and some cord and started hauling it over to one of the bigger trees, hopping up to one of the branches and threading the cord through an eyelet. Chat Noir bounced up into the next tree over, nearly tying his fingers into a knot with the string before he managed to get it straightened out and wrapped around the branch securely.

Paon muffled a snort. He couldn't believe how _ridiculously_ cat-like his best friend could be sometimes.

"Well, at least today wasn't quite as much of a _wash-out_ as it could have been," Chat Noir offered as he tied a knot through the closest eyelet to him and bounced right back out of the tree to grab the next corner. He grinned at Paon's exasperated eye-roll. "And I suppose the rain could let up later, but somehow I _drought_ it- hey! Where are you going? I thought you were going to help me with this? Nino? _Nino!_ "

 


	8. Chapter 8

Plagg yawned and draped himself over the top of the pile of backpacking bags, rolling over a few times to find the warmest spot. He stretched, then curled up for a nap in the warm mid-morning sun, the sky clear of all traces of the storm two days ago.

He'd been having a lot of naps lately. There wasn't a whole lot else for him to do, really. Pestering Adrien (or anyone else) for some cheese had no effect or would just get him a dried mushroom for his efforts, which, well...

Plagg preferred fresh mushrooms to dried, even if he _did_ have to go out and find them himself. And he could gorge himself on the mushrooms if he did the searching and collecting himself, which meant that his stomach would stop growling all the time.

He missed his baked cheese bowls. He missed swimming in bowls of cheesy popcorn. He missed getting leftover bits of cheesecake from the bakery. And he missed munching on slices of Camembert in Marinette's family's kitchen while his Chosen and his girlfriend were upstairs, being gooey out of sight and (more importantly) out of hearing range.

He especially missed the cheese, but having the romantic gooey stuff not where he had to deal with it had been nice, too. Now Plagg had to listen to Adrien and Marinette flirting day in, day out unless he went and flew away for a bit. One would think that they would get tired of it (or of hanging out with each other all the time) since they were literally _never_ apart _,_ but _no_. Of _course_ not. They had just grown closer.

Plagg supposed that he should be happy about that. Adrien needed someone that he was that close to. Even though the trip had been going fairly well for him so far, it would probably just get more difficult as they got close to the temple. And no matter what the outcome of that was going to be- and Duusu had a good feeling about it, and Duusu's _feelings_ were often accurate- the trip back would be hard on Adrien. It was good that he and his girlfriend were close enough and had a strong enough relationship that he could lean on her.

But all of that didn't mean that Plagg _wanted_ to hear the flirting or see all of the kissing.

Plagg drifted off again, occasionally waking slightly to adjust his position. He woke more thoroughly with a start when the wind started whistling past him with more speed, picking up fast enough that Plagg nearly blew off the stack of backpacks before he could scramble back down into the pile. He peered out to see Marinette, Adrien, Alya, Nino and Mrs. Cheng all piled in with Master Fu, clearly doing another one of their shortcuts.

Plagg cheered inwardly. The shortcuts meant that they would get out to the temple sooner, and the sooner they got out then the sooner they could go back, and the sooner they got back then the sooner he could get all the cheese he desired again.

And the sooner they could find out if the spell would work and let his Chosen have his mother back, too. That would also be a pretty big positive, Plagg supposed, and it _was_ the entire point of their trip.

The shell took a sharp corner, and there were shrieks from the riders as they all held on. There was a flash as Paon transformed, startling Jade Turtle enough that they only narrowly missed hitting another jutting rock. Mrs. Cheng transformed as well, shrugging sheepishly when Jade Turtle made an affronted sound.

"I'm starting to think that none of you trust my steering skills," Jade Turtle said with a laugh. "I'm quite adept at obstacle courses. Why, when I was younger and still at the temple, my friends would make courses for me to speed through to test my steering. And I'm proud to say that I only ever rarely crashed."

Plagg sniggered. He remembered those days. "You mean like the times you hit a tree and launched yourself across the field? And when you faceplanted so hard that you ploughed a ditch with your face?"

Jade Turtle only spared him a glance- which was good, because now Marinette was starting to look like she might be considering calling on Tikki. "I merely _brushed_ against a branch and got unbalanced, and that was because I was young and unpracticed. I'm _much_ better at holding my shell steady now."

"Are you sure you're not out of practice, old man?" Plagg taunted, just because he could. It would make his day go by faster, at any rate. "We might hit a rock and get launched across a gorge, just like you did."

" _Thank_ you for the reminder, Plagg," Jade Turtle said, not sounding very thankful at all. Plagg smirked and preened.

"You're welcome!"

Soon enough, the gut-churning ride was done and they were all piling out near an oddly shiny rock in a field. Queen Bee looked puzzled by the fact that both Nino and Mrs. Cheng had transformed, but she didn't ask about that as all of the others piled out. Instead, she crowded close to Jade Turtle, perching on the edge of the shell as they read through the journal for the next step.

"I think we're far enough out from the next one again that we have to wait for a day again," Jade Turtle told Queen Bee, who groaned and pouted. "We might end our hiking day early today, though. I was checking my GPS earlier-"

"When you were meant to be steering, you mean?" Plagg asked loudly, just because he could.

He was ignored.

"-it _looks_ as though we should be going near a nice stream," Jade Turtle continued. "And we could probably all use a wash."

Queen Bee perked right back up, grinning and practically bouncing down the trail, clearly eager to get to their future campsite. Plagg wondered how long it would take before someone reminded her that she had to detransform to save Pollen's energy.

It would probably take a while, actually. It hadn't taken long for them to figure out that being forced to hike while detransformed made Chloe _extremely_ grumpy, which manifested as snappiness. Her snapping at people meant that then the entire group was miserable.

It was _much_ easier to just deal with a hungry Pollen later on, especially when they were camping near a field filled with flowers for her to visit. And if there weren't any flowers and they had to dip into her supply of honey?

Well, if worst came to worst and they ran out of her food, they could always throw a tarp over Chloe and make her ride in the turtle shell on the entire trip home. She would probably fuss, and maybe she would get sick (Jade Turtle's driving was _not_ what one might expect from a Turtle), but they could figure it out. Maybe she would just have to sit in front of Mrs. Agreste with a blanket over her head like a hood, so she could watch where they were going as to not get sick but still keep her secret identity intact.

She might have to keep her mouth largely shut, too, just because Mrs. Agreste already knew her and might recognize her voice, and- _ugh_ , why was _he_ doing the thinking about it? That wasn't his job. He just had to keep himself fed and transform Adrien when he was called on. Whatever magic they had to do at the temple might drain him a little, and then it would be all transformations and sleeping (and getting to actually eat some of his cheese stash instead of boring old _mushrooms_ ) until they were at the airport and on their way back to Paris, where cheesecake and baked cheese bowls and delicious cheesy popcorn awaited.

Plagg went back to lazing in the sun as the turtle shell resumed its normal speed. Trixx joined him after a bit, apparently tired of sunbathing in his Chosen's hair, and Duusu wasn't far behind.

It was a good thing that they were small and the backpack was big, because otherwise it would be getting too crowded for him to properly enjoy his snooze, and _that_ would mean that the fangs would have to come out.

And _no one_ wanted the fangs to come out.

Midafternoon, Plagg finally got tired of snoozing and flew over to perch on top of Adrien's head. For once, his Chosen wasn't with his girlfriend, but was instead talking to Sabine. Plagg considered interrupting to ask for a snack- he could already tell that the shrubland that they were passing through was lacking- but decided against it. The conversation they were having seemed quite important.

"-and you _will_ have adults standing up for you," Sabine was saying. "It's possible that having a few fewer, ah, _dramatic_ adults influencing her, she'll be willing to give you just as much freedom as Nathalie has." There was a pause, and then Sabine added, "Well, with the _possible_ exception of the sleepovers with Marinette."

"With the _definite_ exception of the sleepovers," Adrien admitted. "I'm guessing that even sleeping over at Nino's place would be stretching it, at least at first. But I can understand her not wanting me to sleep over in a girl's room."

"And in Marinette's bed," Sabine agreed. "But it _was_ special circumstances, and Tom and I knew that the kwamis would be there with you."

"See, I'm useful sometimes," Plagg interjected. "Providing 24/7 supervision, for the small price of cheese."

"You've been sleeping way out front on Master Fu's shell for the last several hours," Adrien pointed out, his voice as dry as a desert. "I'm not sure it can be considered 24/7 supervision if you sleep through most of it. Or put yourself in a cheese coma for most of it."

Plagg sniffed. "See, this is all the thanks I get for being unpaid supervision! See if I help out in the future. And I haven't been getting cheese, so therefore no supervision provided. You get the Basic Plagg Services Package instead of the Deluxe edition."

Sabine laughed. Adrien looked exasperated, which Plagg had noticed was a common response to his indirect requests for cheese. It was puzzling, really, because he got the exact same response from being _direct_ about his requests.

Was he just supposed to mope around until they remembered to feed him? None of the other kwamis had to do that. Maybe it was just because he was more passionate about his cheese compared to the others.

Humans were just so _confusing_ sometimes.

Below him, Sabine and Adrien resumed their conversation, apparently discussing Adrien's mother and her overprotective tendencies. Apparently the rose-colored glasses that Adrien had often looked through when thinking back to old memories of his mom had come off now that it was likely that she would be coming home.

Apparently Adrien's mother was prone to being a bit dramatic and overprotective, prone to overthinking and overreacting. She sounded a bit like Marinette, really- Plagg had been around for more than one of her "overthinking everything" meltdowns- only Marinette was both a teenager and therefore it was more understandable, and she was growing out of that particular habit of hers with time and experience, whereas Mrs. Agreste was an adult and therefore should have known better. It didn't help that she spent most of her time with Mr. Agreste- a drama queen if Plagg had ever seen one- and Chloe's mom, who couldn't be considered a good influence in _any_ universe.

It very much sounded like Emile Agreste could use a little bit of Sabine and Tom influence in her life. The only _real_ question, really, was if she was already too set in her ways to change.

Plagg hoped, for Adrien's sake, that she wasn't.

 

* * *

 

Plagg always found it a little disorienting how quiet the group was when they finished hiking and set up camp for the night. In all of the movies that Adrien watched (or at least put on for _Plagg_ to watch while Adrien showered or tried to get something else done), _camp_ was always loud and filled with excitement, kids yelling and running around and chattering.

He supposed that they were all too tired to do much running around, though. And they had talked all day on the trail for over a week now, with the better part of another week of airplane and road travel before that when they had _also_ been together and talking about stuff. They were kind of talked out at this point, which Plagg could understand.

After all, they were never apart, really, so there was never any new news to share. The only one of them that was in contact with the outside world at all as Chloe, and that was only to shoot off the occasional text to her father to keep him off of her back and from suspecting what she was up to. Plagg could see her fingers periodically twitching towards her satellite-enabled phone, clearly wanting to surf the internet or call Sabrina, but it would be far too expensive, even for her.

Their camps were downright _dreary._ Plagg didn't like to stick around long if he could, instead flying off with the other kwamis to forage.

"They chose a nice location this time," Wayazz commented as he joined Plagg in rooting through the large grove of trees- or perhaps it was a small forest, Plagg neither knew nor cared- near the camp. "And I think it'll get better again as we get closer to the temple. I _vaguely_ remember this trail, and it was highest in elevation in the middle."

"More forest, then," Plagg commented. He ripped off a chunk of mushroom and stuffed it in his mouth. It was the sort that was probably poisonous to humans, but as a god he couldn't be poisoned. "And more food."

"Hopefully, yes." Wayazz broke off a fern fiddlehead and started munching. Plagg made a face and inhaled more mushroom. He had been persuaded to try Wayzz's favorite food once and it was just _ugh._ Too green and vegetable-y and bitter. "It'll be interesting to see how much of the cultivars are left in the temple valley. Like, if the fruit trees and mushroom patches are left, that would be _fabulous_."

Plagg nodded and zipped off to find more mushrooms. They were growing on him again, he had to admit, but now he was dreaming of cheese-soaked mushrooms. A pile of sliced mushrooms, drowning under a nice, gooey layer of melted, browned Raclette would hit the _perfect_ spot.

Alas, that would have to wait until he returned to Paris.

Plagg continued to munch as the sun set behind the mountains. He could just faintly smell the dinner from the Miraculous group, the smell of baking potatoes and onions floating through the forest. There was a hint of cheese in there, too, and Plagg resolved to steal a bit as a dessert when he got back. He might have to scrape the pan, but he _would_ get a taste of his precious cheese tonight.

The other kwamis had already returned to the camp by the time Plagg had eaten his fill. Tikki smelled suspiciously like honey, and he suspected that she and Pollen had teamed up for their snack and raided a wild beehive. All of the teens had damp hair, clearly having gotten their wash in. Chloe was now sporting a shoulder-length bob, much to Plagg's surprise, and he glanced around and immediately spotted a pile of trimmed gold-blond hair in a semi-neat pile by a rock.

 _Huh_. It seemed that Miss Priss had finally caved and decided that shorter hair was easier to take care of while camping. Plagg was surprised. He would have put money- figuratively, of course- on Chloe not giving in to having a haircut until the tail end of the trip. He hadn't heard any of Chloe's distinctive complaining from the woods, so it seemed that she wasn't _too_ unhappy with her new haircut.

Plagg wouldn't have expected it, but it seemed like _maybe_ , just maybe, Chloe was growing.

"Well, this party sure looks boring," Plagg observed loudly as he flew in. He perched on Adrien's head for half a second, then flew to Adrien's shoulder instead because his hair was still wet. Plagg moved again after Adrien's hair dripped on him, this time choosing to perch closer to the glowing embers of the campfire that they had built. "Why is no one talking? Singing? Dancing?

Alya gave him a stink eye. "Too tired."

"Yeah! Why don't _you_ sing if you're so bored!" Nino chimed in. "Entertain us."

"Nino, no-" Adrien, Marinette, and Master Fu all chimed in unison, but Plagg wasn't listening. A grin had spread across his face.

They wanted to hear his entertainment? Then he would entertain. He had thought up all _sorts_ of lovely cheese songs during the hours and hours of hiking, and some were absolute _masterpieces_ that the world shouldn't be deprived of any longer. And now he had his invitation to the stage.

"For my first song, I want to present _Don't Stop Cheesin'_ ," Plagg announced, ignoring the groans from the other kwamis and several of their Chosens. Some people just couldn't appreciate _art_. He cleared his throat. "Ah-hem. _Just a cheesy treat! Sitting there for me to eat! Fresh mozzarella can be eaten anywhere!"_

"It would go bad outside of a fridge, I would think," Fu commented dryly.

" _Just a cheese bowl! Get it for a small toll! I would eat it anywhere!"_ Plagg spun around, dancing just like he had seen Adrien do at the Jagged concert as he enthusiastically hummed the bridge. " _Some cheddar in an aging room! The smell of brine mmm-mm. I could eat it all night because it's yum and yum and yum and yum-_ "

"Brine is yum?" Adrien interrupted. Plagg ignored him.

One couldn't simply cut off _art_ early to argue with haters, after all.

" _Camembert! Brie! Up and down the cheese store shelves! Parmesan! Gruyere! Eat it all night! Come on, people! Live just to enjoy cheese! Come on, it's just so goooood!"_

"Adrien, you need to listen to different music, dude," Plagg heard Nino say as he danced some more. "That song is _ancient_."

"Wait, you actually recognize it?"

" _Working hard to get my Swiss, a dairy treat I'll never miss! Paying anything to get a bite just one more time-"_

"Oh my _god,_ Plagg, just take the cheese," Adrien said loudly, rudely cutting across Plagg mid-verse. He pushed his bowel towards Plagg. "Go right ahead, as long as you _stop singing that song_."

"Rude." Plagg swooped down and claimed the bowl for his own anyway. "So do you want to hear The Process of Making Cheese song instead, then?"

"Oh god _no_."

"Uh, _ruder_."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, Plagg, how I missed you. Plagg POV is best POV.
> 
> Currently trying to get caught up with my posting now that my big Christmas gift is done (I made a lap quilt for my grandma, and only just finished it this afternoon whoops), so I'll be trying to finish/edit/post between helping with yardwork and being roped into games with the rest of my family.


	9. Chapter 9

Shortly after their early lunch, Chloe heard the most glorious combination of words that ever existed:

"Chloe, I think we should be close enough to the next landmark for you to transform and fly ahead."

(Well, they were the most glorious combination of words on the trip so far, at least. Her standards were a little bit higher- a _lot_ bit higher, actually- at home, where she didn't have to walk until her feet were sore and there wasn't an annoying little floating cat singing some nonsense about _Gouda after midnight_ and _cheddar to the dawn_.)

Chloe grinned, waving Pollen over. "It's the crack in that cliff way up there, right? I'm on it!"

She transformed in a flash, zipping up and away as fast as she could. Queen Bee let out a happy sigh as her weight lifted off of her poor, abused feet...and as she finally, _finally_ moved out of range of Plagg's awful, _awful_ singing.

How Adrien put up with that kwami, she didn't know. And how he listened to that music- the music that his kwami was clearly creating cheese-themed covers for- _well_. Hopefully Nino would use the rest of the summer productively to update Adrien's playlists a bit, because otherwise she would have to do that and it would take away time from her hairdresser appointment to even out her haircut and put in a few highlights, and her spa appointments, and the weekly mani-pedis that she was going to have to schedule in order to get off the ugly calluses that she was starting to get from her boots.

Queen Bee peered downwards as she flew forwards, hoping to get a good look at the trail farther ahead. If she could see it from way up above, then it would make it easier to find whatever landmark they were looking for next. But the trail seemed a bit overgrown to start with, and there were _oodles_ of little deer trails all over the place from the herds of antelopes or whatever they were that made it really, _really_ hard to pick out which was the right one.

Well. Maybe she would just go directly to the mountains- they were more like rock fins, really, not _mountains_ at all, not like some of the peaks they had seen over the past however-long-it-had been- and try to find the passage that Mrs. Agreste had described and even tried to illustrate in the notebook. It had worked before, and surely it would work now. All she had to do was some speed sprints along a section of the rocks and she _should_ be able to find the passageway.

Strategy decided, Queen Bee zipped forward, squinting against the wind in her eyes as the once-distant rock features grew closer and closer. It still took a good ten minutes to get there, and then Queen Bee could start her searching. There was just one big problem.

There was a strip of forest at the base of the rocks, thick enough that it was difficult to see down to where the break in the rocks would be most prominent. Queen Bee growled, frustrated.

Why couldn't this ever be _easy?_ Just once, she wanted there to be a landmark that she could see from _ages_ away once she was in the air, so they could just pack up and zip over instead of her having to spend forever searching.

"Maybe I could fly above all of this stuff and find it that way," Queen Bee mused. She flew higher into the air, glad that she could actually _fly,_ unlike Paon, who was stuck with his weird little flutter-leap-glides. The air was maybe getting a little thin as she kept flying higher, but she would get used to it and it would be worth it, Queen Bee was _positive_.

...as it turned out, the fins of rock turned into an absolute _maze_ behind the rock face. There were little crevices going everywhere, things that might have been the walkway but might not have been, and dead ends and pinch points galore. Queen Bee gave up after a minute of horrified staring and zipped back down to ground level.

 _Well_. So much for _that_ idea. Clearly she would have to actually _work_ for this one. Grumbling a bit, Queen Bee headed back down to search properly.

And search, and search, and search. She couldn't find _anything_.

Queen Bee zipped back in yet another zig-zag, dipping down between the trees to get closer to the ground and scowling when she didn't spot the crack in the rock that Mrs. Agreste had described in the journal, even after another pass.

That was _annoying_. Why couldn't Mr. Agreste have just entered the GPS coordinates in his journal like a normal person? Didn't he know that he would have to be able to find the temple again and some ridiculous kiddie treasure hunt instructions- honestly, Queen Bee could remember similar instructions in some of her childhood treasure hunt games ( _turn to the left; walk twenty steps. Turn to your right and walk ten steps. Face the windows and walk eleven steps. And there's the treasure!_ )- was _not_ up to the standard she would expect from Mr. Agreste. Or. Mrs. Agreste. Or anyone with the last name Agreste at all.

She would have expected for him to have coordinates for points on the path, at the very _least_. Maybe even the coordinates for the valley itself, so they could just hire a private helicopter and fly themselves in and out in a matter of only a couple days, or maybe just one day. _That_ would have made for a fun trip.

Grumbling, Queen Bee widened her search. At least she didn't have to _hike_ this. Flying was _so_ much more fun and ages faster. If she turned around, she could see the others still plodding dutifully in a straight line across a meadow, following the faint traces of the trail hidden under long, swaying grass.

A line of shadows caught her eye, and Queen Bee perked up. She headed right for it, dodging between the trees, and let out a little squeal when she saw the crack in the rocks that had eroded into a narrow pass, the trail leading up to it faint but still visible from the air. Smirking just a little ( _another point for Queen Bee- that had to be a couple hours of hiking, at the VERY least!_ )- she landed, reaching for her trompado as she did so she could call Master Fu. As soon as she did, though a rustling in the bush made her pause and she turned warily to see what had made the noise, squinting into the gloom of the forest.

A giant rodent face stared back out of the shadows.

Queen Bee _screamed,_ flung her trompo at the face, and took off into the sky without a backwards glance.

 

* * *

 

Adrien laughed at a joke Nino told, feeling more relaxed and more like himself than he had in weeks as the group of them headed across a field full of tall grass and flowers. Even though he was ages away from home, he wasn't even remotely homesick.

He was among friends, with adults who actually _cared_ about him, and far from the nosy reporters. He had found that he quite liked hiking- and after Chloe's meltdown early on, wasn't he glad that he had spent _days_ clomping up and down the stairs both in his own home and in Marinette's to try to break his boots in a bit before they took off?- and even when his muscles were sore from walking and there were bugs and he was so exhausted that he was falling asleep the moment his head hit the pillow every night, Adrien couldn't make himself hope that the trip would be over _too_ soon. He was just having too much _fun_.

The field dipped down between several rolling hills and Adrien followed the gentle slope, even as Jade Turtle charted a determinedly straight course along the slide of the hill to follow the proper trail. Marinette's mother sat in the back of his shell among the piled bags, enjoying the gentle breeze and a bit of a break from the walking. Nooroo perched on her head, sunning himself.

Up ahead, they could occasionally spot a flash of yellow as Queen Bee scouted for the crack in the cliffs where they could slip through the rocks to the far side. She didn't seem to be having much luck so far, proving once again why it was a good thing that Jade Turtle was also taking the slower route. It would take longer, but they _would_ make it right to the cliff passage eventually.

"Our legs are going to look _amazing_ after all of this is done," Nino joked, giving his legs a little shake before jogging for a moment to catch up again. After a few days of pain as their legs adjusted to the intense exercise, they were all doing a lot better. "Can we talk about how much I'm looking forward to the being transformed on the way back thing? I can just fly the whole way, practically. Well, jump and glide, at least."

Duusu made an unhappy little noise, shuddering slightly. "Oh, that's going to be _awful_ , being transformed all of the time. It's going to be _days_ of almost nonstop transformation, only eating once per day-!"

"You'll be detransformed at night," Marinette pointed out. "And it'll be two meals, not one. _And_ it'll be faster going back, too, since we can just use the GPS and mostly just take the straightest route back instead of the flattest and most accessible."

"Unless there's a mountain range in the way," Adrien chimed in, because that was _definitely_ a concern in this particular region. "But then we could also just transform and go as fast as we can using the GPS."

The field started giving way to forest as it sloped upwards again, and Plagg zipped away to go scavenge for mushrooms. Adrien couldn't help but let out a small sigh of relief at that- hopefully Plagg would find something he liked, and he would stop nagging Adrien about being hungry all the time and wanting to dip into their stash of cheese. He had been singing cheese-themed covers to popular rock songs for most of the morning, and it was nice to _finally_ have a moment of peace.

"I hope Chloe finds the pass soon," Alya commented a few minutes later, glancing up as the flash of yellow appeared again, dipping in and out of sight along the tops of the trees. "I could use a turtle shell ride break about now."

"You could just join Mrs. Cheng," Adrien pointed out. "We don't _need_ to be speeding ahead for you to ride in the shell. And you've taken advantage of that before."

"I _know_ , but-"

Alya abruptly cut off her words as a faint scream echoed through the valley. Adrien's eyes flew open and his head jerked up, finding the blur of yellow streaking towards them. Queen Bee was flying flat-out, as fast as she could possibly could, right back at them. It only took her a couple minutes to reach them, and she didn't even try to slow as she came in for a landing. Her feet ripped long trenches into the ground, sending dirt and grass everywhere. They all dove out of the way, arms flying up to keep the flying dirt from hitting their faces.

"Chloe? What's wrong?"

"G-giant _rat!"_ Queen Bee spluttered as she finally tripped and somersaulted to a stop. She sat up, pointing back in the direction she had come. She was pale under the mask, her eyes wide. "It was just _lurking_ , and then it was staring at me when I landed! Who knows if it was trying to attack me, or- or _kill_ me, or-"

"A giant rat, you said?" Jade Turtle inquired, sitting up straighter and looking intrigued instead of alarmed. "Or was it the Rat superhero?"

"There's a _rat superhero?!_ Whose bright idea was that?"

"Chloe, we talked about the Rat before, remember?" Alya pointed out. "They're related to someone Adrien's mom knew."

"Or they _were_ related," Adrien corrected automatically. "The new Rat might not be."

Then he froze. _The Rat that had attacked his parents was nearby. Who had_ _ **threatened**_ _his parents and, by extension, him._ That could be bad. _Really_ bad.

He didn't want to be detransformed for this.

Jade Turtle seemed to have the same idea. "Kwamis, power up," he ordered. "We want to transform as soon as possible. I doubt that he would attack us outright, but we want to make it clear that we're superheroes on a mission, not lost tourists or people looking to plunder the temple."

The kwamis zipped towards the bag of food, diving in. Adrien looked around frantically- he had been glad when Plagg flew off to forage, but now he didn't know how to find his kwami. There was no sign of Plagg, though, and Adrien wondered if he could get away with just hiding behind Marinette when the Rat came to investigate.

Tikki emerged first, making a beeline towards Marinette. The other kwamis didn't take long to follow, and the area lit up with the flashes of light as they transformed. Adrien edged closer to Ladybug, twining his fingers with hers for comfort. He _really_ didn't like not being able to transform right now.

_Out of all the times for Plagg to scurry off..._

Adrien was just starting to consider trying to transform even without Plagg in sight when a familiar black shape appeared among the trees. Plagg glanced around at them curiously as he munched on one of the mushrooms he had gathered up in his arms.

"What are we transforming for?"

"Queen Bee spotted the Rat and we wanted to be prepared," Jade Turtle explained. "Finish your snack, and then Adrien can transform too."

For once in his life, Plagg listened. He inhaled the whole pile of mushrooms in one gulp (Adrien cringed- seriously, his kwami had no manners, and it was just _gruesome_ when Plagg's mouth stretched like that) and then zipped over to Adrien. In a flash of green, Chat Noir joined the other superheroes in the field. They headed forward like they had before, this time as a much more tightly-packed group. It was almost ten tense minutes later before they spotted the grey-clad man heading across the field towards them.

His outfit wasn't like the that of the younger superheroes. It was more like a simple grey suit, with the only out-of-place things being the thin tail snaking out the rear of the pants and the ratlike mask covering the upper portion of his face. He didn't look particularly friendly- even at a distance, they could see the pinched expression on his face.

So _this_ was the man who had threatened his parents and drove them into installing fortress-style levels of security in their home. Adrien honestly couldn't blame them. While the seven of them all looked fun and friendly while transformed, this man's outfit screamed _business_. If he were trying to look threatening, then Adrien wouldn't blame anyone who decided to run.

"Remember, only use our superhero names around others," Jade Turtle reminded them as the Rat drew closer. "Just in case this Rat is suspicious of us as well. It will be good practice anyway for once we do the ritual."

Chat Noir nodded stiffly, doing his best not to hide behind Ladybug. Her fingers gave his a light squeeze and her hip bumped into his, a reminder that she was there with him. The group came to a halt, and Jade Turtle gestured for them to stand behind him in a group.

"Try not to look aggressive," Jade Turtle instructed. "We don't want to force a confrontation if he's just here to see what we're doing. He's a local, so he could be an invaluable source of information for helping us find the temple."

Chat Noir's ears flattened, just a little. He didn't really want to travel with the Rat. He just- maybe they hadn't actually _talked_ to the Rat yet, but he wasn't comfortable with being anywhere near the man, just based on the notes his parents had made. Maybe the Rat would be different with actual superheroes.

The Rat kept approaching, and Chat Noir was pleased to see that there was a slight wariness to his expression. He stopped a good twenty or thirty meters away from them, calling something to the group.

Tibetan, Chat Noir was willing to bet. He couldn't catch anything that was being said, which was frustrating. Jade Turtle responded, and the Rat nodded and stepped forward a little closer. Their back-and-forth continued for a few minutes, the Rat's expression relaxing and pinching in turns as they conversed. At one point, Adrien could tell that the Rat was repeating something insistently. Jade Turtle frowned, shaking his head, and then sighed and nodded. With that, the Rat nodded, satisfied, and Master Fu turned back to the group, a not particularly happy expression on his face.

"He says that if we want to get to the temple, we will have to follow him."

 

* * *

 

The silent way that the Rat led them through several valleys and around a lake was frankly eerie. He walked quickly, only occasionally glancing back to make sure that they were following.

Ladybug was just glad that Queen Bee hadn't tried to throw a fit about getting her father involved or anything. They didn't need to get on the Rat's bad side, not without learning more about him first.

Next to her, Chat Noir's hand was wrapped securely around her own. Paon walked on Chat's other side, only centimeters between their shoulders. Queen Bee lagged behind them, still clearly not sold on the whole Rat superhero thing. Their entire group was silent, and it made the entire walk seem like it was taking hours longer.

Ladybug didn't know how the Rat could patrol the area by himself. She would be fine for a day alone, maybe two, but after that the lack of human company would get to her. She had to imagine that most other people would be the same.

They headed around another bend and started up a steep slope. Ladybug could see Paon stretching impatiently, clearly wanting to fly up the slope instead of walk it. But they didn't want to upset their guide.

It wasn't as though him abandoning them in the middle of the wilderness would make them _lost_ , not at all. Jade Turtle had marked where they had gone off of their trail on his GPS, so that they would be able to find it again with no trouble, and Ladybug had seen him marking waypoints as they went along. But they _did_ want to learn what the Rat knew about the entire situation, and he might be able to get them closer to the temple area faster than they could get there themselves.

"We aren't going to go _all_ the way back, are we?" Queen Bee asked in a loud whisper an hour later. She had clearly recovered at least a little from her earlier scare. "Mast- er, Jade Turtle, did he tell you...?"

"His home is half a day's journey away from our path, according to him," Jade Turtle replied. He patted his shell, and Queen Bee flitted over to perch on the edge. "There are small villages this far out, remote and hard to get to. I'm guessing that his home is near one of those. And, hopefully, the previous Rat will be there as well."

Queen Bee didn't look particularly mollified.

Another hour in, the Rat called something back to Jade Turtle, and he gestured for him to come forward. Queen Bee hopped off of the shell and he sped forward, stopping by the Rat to let him hop in. The two of them had a brief conversation, and then Jade Turtle nodded and turned around.

"We were a little further out than he remembered, so we'll be going faster for a bit," Jade Turtle called back to the rest of the group. "Anyone else for the shell?"

There were head shakes all around.

"Wanna ride on my back again?" Chat Noir asked Ladybug as they all started forward again, this time at a much quicker pace. "Since your yo-yos aren't super-helpful out here?"

"That would be _great_."

What followed was probably the strangest procession that the valley had ever seen. Jade Turtle and the Rat sat in the shell, moving across the grass at a fast clip. Lycaena and Queen Bee flew behind them, staying a little higher. Paon's flights were shorter, long glides before he had to leap and take off again. Rena Rouge had given up on running almost straight off the bat and was sticking to long jumps.

And then there was Ladybug and Chat Noir bringing up the rear, vaulting into the sky and coming down in long arcs.

"Wait, no one told us we were going to cut across the lake!" Rena Rouge yelled several minutes later, when the turtle shell took an abrupt turn across the giant lake. "Wait up, Ma- er, Jade Turtle!"

"I wonder how deep that lake is," Ladybug said as Rena took a running jump and landed squarely in the middle of Jade Turtle's shell. Paon jumped and glided and would have missed the shell had Jade Turtle not expanded it just in time.

"Well, we'll find out," Chat Noir said cheerfully, extending his baton again. "Don't worry, I don't think there's a limit to how long I can make this."

"Is there a limit to how fast you can retract it, though?"

"Yeah, why?"

Ladybug clung to Chat Noir's back as his baton plunged into the water for the first time. It splashed on the way in, but the rapidly growing length more than made up for the sudden drop in the ground level. They shot up into the air, then tipped forward. Chat Noir's baton retracted and he spun it to slow their fall before extending it again. This time, it had to extend more to make up for the lake's depth. The time after that, it had to extend even more, so much that Chat Noir only barely managed to catch them before they hit the water's surface.

"Well, maybe I'll just put us higher up so I have more time to catch us," Chat Noir suggested as they shot up again. "Ready?"

Ladybug readjusted her grip on Chat Noir and nodded. "Ready!"

They tipped forward, and just like always, Chat Noir started retracting his baton as fast as he could. But this time, there was too much baton in the water for him to get it all out in time to helicopter down. They shot downwards like a rock, and Chat Noir's expression turned slightly panicked as he glanced backwards at his baton, which _still_ hadn't emerged from the water. Ladybug's stomach dropped, and she scrambled to grab her yo-yo before they could hit the water. Her fingers had just closed around it when the water rushed up to meet them and she and Chat Noir went under with an almighty splash.

It was _cold_.

Ladybug brought her yo-yo to her lips immediately, latching on and taking a deep breath in of the magically-made air. It would have been way easier to panic had she and Chat Noir not used their weapons as a source of air before.

No matter how exhausting and disruptive and all-around _annoying_ as the akuma fights had been, at least they had given her a cool head during emergencies.

Next to her, Chat Noir was still struggling with his staff, pulling it back towards him with a tight-lipped grimace on his face. Ladybug took one last deep breath and then pushed her yo-yo into his face so he could get some air as well. He shot her a grateful look, taking several deep breaths before passing it back.

Several seconds later, their heads broke the surface and they both gasped and spluttered. Queen Bee and Lycaena had stopped and were staring down at the water at them, while the occupants of the turtle shell far up ahead apparently hadn't noticed the splash.

"C-c-cold," Ladybug spluttered as Queen Bee swooped down to haul Chat Noir out. Lycaena came down as well, pulling Ladybug up and out of the water. "T-thanks."

"We're not going to be able to fly like this, though," Queen Bee told them as she struggled upwards. At long last, the end of Chat Noir's baton came out of the water and snapped back into its original size. "You're going to have to figure something else out."

Ladybug frowned as her mom nodded. She glanced around, trying to draw inspiration from their surroundings like she always did during akuma fights.

She didn't turn much up. There was lake, lake, and more lake, with some distant mountain peaks. The far side of the lake was a ways across, but it almost looked like the shore was a bit craggy-

-and _that_ was it. Craggy rocks could provide a spot for her yo-yo to latch on. Sure, it wasn't _high_ , but it would work. She looked around again, and spotted a flat-ish piece of wood floating around just a short distance away.

 _Perfect_.

"Well, as long as we're already wet, you might as well put us back down," Ladybug said, trying not to grin at the way Queen Bee was holding Chat Noir. Her hands were under his arms and she was holding him as far away from her as she could, like he was a wet, smelly cat that she was trying to keep away from herself. "Then Mom, can you get that piece of wood over there? Chat Noir and I can use that."

Queen Bee dropped Chat Noir right away. He yelped as he went under again, spluttering as he came up seconds later. Once he had shoved his hair out of his eyes, he shot Queen Bee a betrayed look.

"What was _that_ for?"

"Ladybug said I could put you back down," Queen Bee said with a small shrug. "So I did."

"A little _warning_ would have been nice!"

Ladybug giggled at the look on Chat Noir's face as Lycaena let her down _much_ more gently and then flitted over to grab the piece of wood. "Such a pouty kitten."

"I'm _wet_ ," Chat Noir complained. "And what's the plan, anyway?"

Ladybug only grinned.

"I'm reserving the right now to laugh at you if this all goes sideways," Queen Bee said two minutes later as Ladybug cast her yo-yos out, securing them on the far bank. "You're going to wipe out, I can tell now."

" _Or_ this is going to be the coolest thing ever and you have to promise to take pictures of us," Chat Noir shot back.

"I'm going to take pictures of you failing spectacularly and spend the rest of the trip laughing at you about it."

Ladybug poked Chat Noir's side. " _Focus_. Are you ready?"

Chat Noir tightened his hold around her waist and dug his feet into the wood. "Ready!"

"Scoot back as soon as I tell you to. We're going to tip backwards for a second before we start going forwards." Ladybug racked her brain for everything she knew about water-skiing, which...wasn't much, honestly. And on top of that, they didn't have _skis_ , they had a board. Still, she figured that as long as the front of their piece of wood pointed up out of the water and they didn't get yanked off straight away, it _should_ work. Maybe. Hopefully. "All right. In three, two, one- _go!_ "

For one heart-stopping second, they tipped backwards, nearly falling off into the water. Then Ladybug's yo-yo strings tightened, and they were skimming across the top of the water, half-standing and half-crouching on top of the piece of wood.

It actually worked. _It actually worked_. Ladybug was _thrilled._

 _"THIS IS THE COOLEST THING EVER!"_ Chat Noir yelled in her ear as they pelted across the water. They were fast catching up to the group in Master Fu's shell, which was still somehow oblivious to the commotion behind them. " _THIS IS SO MUCH FUN!"_

" _I CAN'T BELIEVE IT WORKED!"_ Ladybug yelled back, spluttering a little as some of the spray of water that the board was kicking up got in her mouth.

"DO YOU THINK TIKKI COULD CREATE A PROPER BOARD FOR US TO USE?" Chat Noir bellowed. "WE COULD DO THIS ON ALL OF THE LAKES WE HAVE TO PASS OVER!"

"I DON'T KNOW!"

They whipped forward, past a shell full of wide-eyed superheroes who had finally noticed that something was going on behind them. Paon looked like he was laughing and Rena Rouge yelled something, but the sound of the wind in their ears drowned their friends out.

Chat Noir adjusted his grip on Ladybug to wave cheerfully at his friends as they whipped past, sending water spraying in their wake. As soon as they had passed, he clapped his arms back around her waist before he could fall off.

Ladybug adjusted her grip and bent her knees a bit more as they drew steadily closer to the far shore. The shoreline swelled up on the horizon, all dark rocks and green moss with grass and flowers growing behind.

And it was then that Ladybug spotted one critical problem with her plan.

"We're going to hit the rocks!" Ladybug yelped as her yo-yo strings grew shorter and shorter. "Chat Noir-!"

"Let go!" Chat Noir yelled, winding an arm around her waist and extending his baton out in front of them as they closed in on the shore. "I'll vault us over! In three, two-"

" _AAAAAAAAHHHHH!"_

Their board hit the rocks and sent both of them flying into the air, aided by Chat Noir's baton as it dug into the soft ground near shore, pole-vaulting them into the sky. They tumbled through the air, screeching loudly as they did, before falling to a mercifully rock-free patch of ground. They lay there for a few seconds, breathing hard.

"We could have managed that better," Chat Noir admitted after a minute. He pushed himself partway up, then flopped back down bonelessly. "I think my heart stopped for a moment there. _Wow_."

Ladybug just nodded, staring up at the sky. After a few seconds, the view was interrupted by a howling Queen Bee.

"That was _fabulous,"_ she managed, waving her trompo at them as she tried to catch her breath between guffaws. "Your screaming? That flying up into the air ass-over-teakettle? Absolutely _priceless_. I got that all on camera, and I'm gonna frame it and hang it up in my bedroom as soon as we get home."

Ladybug could only groan.


	10. Chapter 10

The upside to Ladybug and Chat Noir's spectacular wakeboarding across the lake and subsequent accident was that the Rat had found it absolutely hilarious and had lightened up, just a bit. He still wasn't talking much, but he _had_ stopped scowling.

It was an improvement. And he _was_ actually answering some of the questions Mrs. Cheng asked him, which put them all a little bit more at ease. Still, it was hard to shake first impressions, and the teens were all hanging back a little ways from the turtle shell.

"I can't believe that he only lives a day's journey away from where we were," Queen Bee muttered as they skirted around the bottom of a series of tall hills. "Couldn't we have just gone to his town or whatever by bus or car or something instead of hiking all this way? I got _blisters_ , you know."

"We wouldn't know how to find the trail from there," Chat Noir reasonably pointed out. "The instructions didn't cover that. And from what I could make out of what I overheard, he doesn't live in a town. It's a _village._ It might be really hard to get to."

Queen Bee sniffed and flipped her ponytail. "How hard can it possibly be? You just go down a road until you get there. Maybe we would have to stay in some really small hotels-"

"I don't think that there are hotels out here."

"Fine. We could camp, then. It's not like it would be much different to what we're doing now, only we wouldn't be _hiking_ as much."

Ladybug did her best to ignore Queen Bee's grumbles, knowing that she was just prickly because she was embarrassed about being scared by the Rat before and was fast growing tired of the camping and progressively simpler meals. If she actually thought about what she was saying, then she would realize that Chat Noir was right and stop whining.

"We're almost there!" Master Fu called, and they all breathed a sigh of relief. Dusk was falling fast, and if they didn't reach the Rat's home soon then they would have to figure out sleeping arrangements out of what tents they had along.

"I'm still not comfortable with this," Chat Noir murmured to Ladybug as they made their way up a steep incline to a plateau above. "We're going to be on his home turf."

"We'll keep an eye on him," Ladybug promised. "And I'm sure he won't recognize you- oh, hey, look! Houses!"

All of them promptly dropped to ground level, Queen Bee folding in her wings and Paon twisting his cape in his hands, clearly trying to mask its silhouette in case anyone glanced over. The Rat glanced back at them and beckoned, clearly not worried about anyone seeing them.

That...was not particularly comforting. Not after they had gone to such great trouble to keep people from knowing that a group of Miraculous holders was in the area when they were first starting out. There was no way that they would be able to venture out as themselves if the neighbors had seen that there were superheroes in the area-

-and okay, maybe she was overreacting, just a bit. The houses were _very_ spread out, with stretches of fields and orchards and garden patches between them, and the Rat seemed to be directing Master Fu to the closest of them. Unless the neighbors looked _very_ closely, they probably wouldn't notice anything amiss with the group, if they even happened to glance over and see their group at all.

Still, they wouldn't be able to go out if they stayed for more than a couple hours. Master Fu and her mom and Marinette herself would maybe be able to go out without attracting _too_ much attention, but the others were too obviously out of place. And even then, people would no doubt wonder how they had arrived without notice.

After all, Ladybug _had_ managed to notice from their slightly higher vantage point that the roads crossing through the village didn't exactly look terribly car-friendly. She wouldn't be surprised if the primary mode of transportation for the villagers was more along the lines of horseback, or maybe donkey-back. Or burro-back.

She _really_ wasn't well-versed in what kind of riding animals were likely to be in this area, but perhaps she would learn.

Their group moved past several fields, most filled with tall, grasslike plants. The Rat had hopped out of Master Fu's shell and was leading the way down the path between the fields towards the closest house. It was a little larger than she had expected, really, sprawling out in a one-level rambler style.

Maybe the Rat was part of a large family? That would explain the larger home.

The group moved past the last field and past a pen of chickens, then entered the swept-dirt courtyard. The Rat glanced around, then pushed the door open and entered, waving them in after him.

Ladybug moved closer to Chat Noir as they stepped into the house. It wasn't that it looked creepy or anything- actually, it looked quite nice, if perhaps a bit old and weathered- but now they were actually on someone else's turf. Even though there were seven of them and only the only one other unknown Miraculous holder, Ladybug still didn't like it. There was no way to tell if the Rat had anything hidden up his sleeve, and his history of threatening Adrien's parents didn't exactly make her trust him any more, even with his recently more relaxed attitude.

Out of the seven of them, only Jade Turtle looked relaxed. Clearly he wasn't concerned about the Rat having ulterior motives or carrying out any of the threats that Mr. and Mrs. Agreste had described in the journal. He was looking around the room that the Rat led them through, taking in the decorations and the books piled against the wall. Ladybug was looking around as well, but in more of the style that she used during akuma attacks, looking for potential threats. There wasn't anything obvious, but they couldn't be too careful.

"I hope he doesn't demand that we detransform," Chat Noir whispered to her. "If he actually planned on carrying through on any of his threats and researched my family, he would be able to recognize me."

"I'm sure that Ma- er, Jade Turtle would object to that requirement," Ladybug assured him. "He wouldn't put you in danger like that."

Chat Noir let out a nervous little laugh. "Are you sure we're talking about the same guy? The one that gave two teens magic jewelry to fight supervillains with no prior experience or instruction?"

"And we did well, didn't we?" Ladybug pointed out. "He knows what he's doing."

Even with the reassurance, she could still feel that Chat Noir was still stiff and on edge. His kitty ears twitched, picking up on every noise. They finally flicked forward and stayed there, honing in on the next room. "There's someone in there."

"Well, of course there is," Ladybug teased him, squeezing his hand to show she meant no harm. "We're going to see the old Rat, remember?"

Chat Noir just nodded.

The elderly man snoozing in the next room awoke with a start as they all piled through the doorway. He blinked, adjusting to the view, and then his eyes slid over the French superheroes. They lingered for a moment longer on Paon and Lycaena.

He grinned as he sat up, warm and welcoming.

Master Fu stepped forward, greeting the other man- or so Marinette assumed, since she couldn't really understand what was being said.

"I bet the rat kwami liked that guy better," she heard Rena Rouge whisper to Paon. "He seems super-nice."

She was quickly shushed by Lycaena.

The conversation between Jade Turtle and the old Rat picked up. Jade was nodding along to whatever the other man was saying, occasionally interjecting something. The pinched look on the younger Rat's face slowly eased away as he listened to them talk, replaced by curiosity. He eased into the conversation as well, apparently asking questions about whatever was being said. As the chat went on, they all relaxed.

They weren't going to get attacked. In fact, maybe the Rats could even help them out. If they knew how to get to the temple, maybe the younger one could guide the group there to make things go faster. Maybe they could suggest another way back, something that would take less time. Maybe-

Maybe she shouldn't get ahead of herself just yet. Maybe the Rats hadn't ever actually located the temple. After all, Mr. and Mrs. Agreste had indicated that the temple's exact location was still lost to everyone, as far as they knew, and the Miraculous had still been there when they arrived. It had only been a year since they were last in Tibet. If the Rats hadn't found the temple before, after decades upon decades of trying, why would they manage it now? Maybe all this stop would accomplish would be to set them further behind schedule and to hopefully restock some of their supplies. There was no way to know, not yet.

They would have to hope for the best but be ready for the worst.

 

* * *

 

Jade Turtle was having a grand old time.

Sure, maybe this side trip would put a bit of a delay in their plans, and they might have to inquire about where to buy more supplies so that they would be sure that they would have enough for the rest of their journey and the return, but it was fabulous to talk to another old holder, one who had heard stories of the lost temple and everything that had gone on there. It turned out that several of the previous Rat's relatives- well, his ancestors and _their_ relatives- had gone to the temple. A few had been lucky enough to receive a Miraculous over the years, and several had been killed in the attacks that had destroyed the temple and scattered the Guardians. The man had wanted to dedicate his life to recovering the lost Miraculous and restarting the temples, but had to largely set the goal aside to get a job and raise a family once he reached his 30s. After that, he had wanted to focus on simply finding the temples and recovering the lost Miraculous so that they could be used again.

(Privately, Jade Turtle thought that was just as well. The kwamis had never been thrilled about being confined to the temple, preferring instead to find Chosens in areas that actually _needed_ their presence. He hadn't wanted to break the news that he wasn't here to restart the temple, but it seemed that the other man no longer considered that a goal.)

"It's good to see that the Peacock and Butterfly are back in safe hands," the old Rat told him. "I grew worried when I heard of the happenings in Paris."

"Well, at first we were quite excited," the younger Rat told Jade, and his eyebrows shot up in surprise. _Excited?_ Hawkmoth's attacks had been clearly malicious from the start. Wayzz had been able to sense Hawkmoth's ill intentions, and even without a kwami to clue them in, it had only taken Paris a _very_ short time to realize that the entity called Hawkmoth was evil.

"Excited?"

"Well, we were trying to figure out how to get in contact with other Miraculous holders," the old Rat corrected. "And then there's suddenly Ladybug and Chat Noir, completely obvious and visible. We were going to call on them and see if they knew of you, but we waited, because we knew that there was no way they could leave Paris, not while Hawkmoth was still loose."

Intrigued, Jade Turtle leaned forward. "Wait, why were you trying to get in contact with me? Why now?"

The two Rats exchanged a look. "It has to do with an incident just over a year ago," the older one started. "Tsomo, tell him about it. You were the one there, after all."

The younger Rat gave the older one an irritated look, probably for using his real name, before he turned back to Jade Turtle. "I was out looking for the Temple, trying to trace the records we _did_ have, just like my uncle did before me. I don't get to go out often, since I have a job of my own to tend to, but when I can I went out. I had been getting closer to the Valley of the Kwamis, I could feel it, but around there the lingering magic that I was using as my guide was a bit haywire, and of course the valley can only be found through a single hidden entrance. I found many valleys, some more touched by magic than others, but not that one. And then that day, I felt a strong pulse of magic, something old springing up. I focused on that, using it as my guide to steer me. And after circling the area for several days in search of the entrance, I finally found the valley."

"But no one there?"

Tsomo shook his head. "No one. It took me two days to get in from where I was, so if there was someone else there before, they had taken off. The only thing out of place in the ruins was a glow from one of the temples. I figured out that it was the one that the Miraculous holders had slept in, the one with the traps to catch those who might bring harm to the holders. And the glow was from one of those very same traps. It didn't take long to figure out that someone had been there before me, and they had been caught by one of the old spells."

"He came to me at once," the old Rat said, picking up the story. "After marking his path, of course, so he could find the valley again. It didn't take long for me to realize that we would need all seven of the topmost level holders to rescue whoever had fallen ill of the trap. But of course, I had no idea where you might be, and the Butterfly and the Peacock were still missing. Still, I needed to find you to let you know so that there would be more heads to think about the problem. And then Hawkmoth showed up."

"So you knew where I was likely to be found, but there was no way we could leave Paris then," Jade Turtle finished. The old Rat nodded.

"And we figured that you had enough to worry about without news of a trapped soul that needed to be freed. It wasn't as though it was a very time-sensitive problem."

Jade Turtle shook his head. "It would have been another thing for me to work on while keeping an eye on the Hawkmoth problem. And it would have been a clue for us to figure out who Hawkmoth was."

Two sets of eyes snapped to him. "Wait, you mean it was _Hawkmoth_ who was there- oh, of _course_ he was!" Tsomo exclaimed. He swore abruptly. Jade Turtle startled, and he could see the rest of his group suddenly tense up, looking to him for guidance. "I should have known. That was how he got his Miraculous! And he came with someone else, but they were trapped. I bet I know who it was- they were poking around too close for my taste several times, but I only confronted them the once. I _should_ have come to Paris as soon as I heard the news, then- I could have pointed him out! The attacks could have been stopped a whole lot sooner if I had been there- I mean, I didn't know his name, but I could have done a pretty good drawing, and then we could have investigated, and-"

"The young superheroes might not have been ready had they gone after him earlier than they did," Jade Turtle pointed out, realizing it as he said it. Yes, it would have been good to make some headway about who Hawkmoth was earlier, but things _had_ turned out well. "This way, they had most of a year's worth of experience fighting. They were able to access some secondary abilities. And with Ladybug's Miraculous Cure, there was no lasting damage to the city. And think of it this way- now, we have two fresh superheroes experienced in fighting. That by itself is important."

"So it wouldn't have helped, then? Not even remotely?" Tsomo crossed his arms, looking doubtful. "I find that hard to believe."

Jade Turtle shook his head. "No, no, it still could have been useful! The way we discovered who Hawkmoth was- well, it a lucky accident, and it could have very easily not happened. We're lucky that Chat Noir's kwami has an insatiable appetite."

Both Rats glanced towards Chat Noir in confusion. Jade Turtle didn't miss the way Chat Noir drew back, wary of the attention.

"But we might have not been able to attack right away, since the young superheroes were still learning how to fight," Jade Turtle finished. "It may not have ended the attacks much sooner because of that. Experience is a difficult thing to imitate. But it ended well, so there's no need to be upset."

"The past is in the past," the old Rat agreed. "We must focus on the present and the future. In this case, I believe we can help most by assisting you and your group on the way to the temple. Tsomo can speed your journey up, I think. And you can spend a night or two to rest and recover and wash up before setting off again, which I'm sure you'll enjoy."

Jade Turtle chuckled, thinking of the disgruntled expressions on his charges' faces from whenever they had to wash in the rain. "I'm sure we can help with that. We've been using a solar shower sort of thing, but when we do it's at the end of a long day and there's not much time for the water to heat up. And if there's a downpour, we use that. A more traditional wash would be welcome."

"And a day's rest before you venture out again?"

Jade Turtle had to think about that one. While he was sure that Wayzz could use a break- his poor kwami wasn't accustomed to transforming for days on end, with breaks only at night, and on top of that he seemed to be tiring faster than expected- and the children could also use a rest from hiking, he was sure that they were all impatient to get to the temple and complete their trip. "Can I get back to you on that later? I should ask the rest of my group what they think."

"Of course."

"If you have a market of any sort nearby, I would be interested in seeing it before we go," Jade Turtle told them. "Or if any of your neighbors might be interested in selling us any fruit or vegetables. We've been out for about a week and a half now, and I'm sure we would welcome any fresh food. I know I should get some fresh veggies for my kwami, as he has been getting _quite_ the workout on this trip."

"I might say, it is very impressive that you're doing the journey. I had to give up being the Rat when my bones got too old." The old Rat glanced over at Tsomo. "Of course, the Rat has to walk and run everywhere."

Jade Turtle chuckled. "Yes, having the shell is quite nice. I had to hike without it as myself at the start of our journey, since we were on hiking trails. I can't blame the locals for making the area into a day hike zone, but it _was_ quite difficult to carry all of our supplies as myself."

"If we had gotten in contact with you before you left Paris, we would have told you to come from our town," Tsomo said immediately. "It's a shorter journey on foot, though it's _very_ difficult for cars to navigate all of the way from the nearest city. I would offer to let you take that way back, but we don't have a car for you to borrow. Neither do any of our neighbors."

"Ah, we'll be fine," Jade Turtle assured him. He waved the GPS, with all of its carefully backed-up data. "We're planning on transforming on the way back and going straight-line distances cross-country, as fast as we possibly can. My shell can get quite speedy when I want it to. Trying to go out via your roads wouldn't speed things up for us at this point, but I appreciate the thought."

The old Rat nodded. "I suspected as much. We will simply have to content ourselves with letting you rest and speeding along your journey to the temple. Now, since it is getting late- I'm guessing that you might like some dinner?"

 

* * *

 

To Master Fu's surprise, his group was largely accepting towards the idea of a day's break to wash and restock a bit before continuing on their journey. They took his word that the Rats were trustworthy- well, except for Chat Noir and Ladybug, but given Chat Noir's family's history with the Rat, perhaps that was understandable.

"Could you maybe do a little fishing about the threats they made towards my parents before the rest of us detransform?" Chat Noir asked. He glanced over at the younger Rat, who was standing in the kitchen. "Just- if he's going to tag along, once we free my mom- I mean-"

"You want to make sure that both she and you will be safe," Master Fu finished. He smiled kindly at Chat Noir. "Of course. Perhaps I can bring it up at dinner. I'll make sure that he knows her true intentions for coming out, and that further harassment will not be tolerated."

Chat Noir nodded.

Master Fu smiled at the boy again before heading over to the kitchen to offer his services to get dinner made. They were an extra seven people, after all. Seven people and his kwami, at least. It was possible that a couple of the others might decide to detransform before dinner, but perhaps not likely.

"Your companions are still wary, I see," the elder Rat commented when Master Fu joined him. "They're all still transformed, even though they _could_ use their kwamis to translate and talk to us if they wanted."

Ah- _hah_. Perfect opening, handed to him on a silver platter. "Yes, well, all they had known about the Rat before we met him today was based off of what we had read in Hawkmoth and his wife's journals. And what we read was based on one rather unfortunate run-in that they had, around perhaps two years ago?."

The elder Rat gave Tsomo a flat look. "Yes, I heard about that as well. And we had a discussion about at least hearing people out before threatening them."

Tsomo scowled. "Clearly my threats weren't good enough, if they didn't stop the two of them from coming back. Those chasing power cannot be trusted."

"They had been searching for the temple and the Miraculous, yes. But using it had not been their original goal." Their heads turned towards him, and Master Fu inclined his in return before starting to explain Mrs. Agreste's true intentions. Tsomo looked rather contrite at the explanation, and the Rat's eyes widened.

"I remember the girl," he said once Master Fu was done speaking. "A friend of one of my granddaughters. Kind, I remember. She struck me as someone who liked challenges. Stubborn. And her intentions were nice, if misplaced. Had I known what she had planned, I would have tried to dissuade her, or at least warn her of the booby traps that my kwami told me about."

"If they _had_ to find the temple, if they had their minds so set on it, it would have been better for them to simply find it and then come to us at once instead of searching the ruins." Tsomo's expression had turned a bit stubborn again. "...but I suppose I _could_ have listened, first. And if she was once a friend of the family, then I suppose she spoke Mandarin and we could have had a conversation. But how was I to know? It looked like outsiders coming in, trying to find the sacred ruins for their own gain. That isn't the first time that it's happened since the temple's fall. How they hear of the temple or how to find it, I have no idea."

The old Rat sighed. "Patience is a virtue. Rats are meant to sneak and spy and gather information before deciding on a path of action."

"They were getting too close. I didn't think it was smart to _watch and see_." Tsomo looked displeased as he added, "Though I suppose they would have gotten as lost as I did once the trail ended, giving me enough time to intercept them."

Master Fu simply nodded. It sounded quite like Tsomo would pose no further threat to the Agreste family, but he wanted to make sure. "Well, the girl- she's a woman now- she's the one we're looking to rescue from the temple."

His meaning was clear. Tsomo let out a long sigh. "No harm will come to her. I never intended to carry through with the threats, really. They were just supposed to scare them away. The most I would do would be give chase. Your Ladybug and Chat Noir are _much_ scarier than I am, trust me. Even if they look friendlier, I've heard the stories of their fights, and gone into town to see the video. They're strong fighters, and I've never seen proper combat."

Fu made a mental note to tell that to Chat Noir. It would probably bring him some peace of mind.

Surprisingly enough, it didn't take long for the meal to come together. Tsomo and the Rat had decided to go for a vegetable-heavy meal, clearly correctly surmising that they hadn't had many fresh veggies on their hike. The noodle-filled soup smelled _amazing,_ and the barley bread tasty. Master Fu was itching to sit down to enjoy the meal.

Across the kitchen, Wayzz had been settled with a pile of pea pods and chopped squash and was looking quite pleased as he munched on his own well-deserved feast. Fu knew that he had been pushing his old friend hard, perhaps _too_ hard. A day's rest where Wayzz could be untransformed and munching on vegetables to his heart's content- Fu would have to compensate the Rats for the food they offered- would be much appreciated.

The kwamis were not used to being transformed all day, every day. If he could persuade the rest of the group to detransform and let their kwamis rest up and eat what they needed to fully recharge before the final part of their journey, that would be best of all involved.

After all, they didn't want to have to stop their journey on the way back and stay huddled in tents to hide their identities if the kwamis gave out from exhaustion and had to take a break to recharge.

With dinner on the table, they all sat down to eat. The elder Rat gestured for them all to serve up, assuring them that they could dig in as he had made plenty. Master Fu translated for him, and the teens dug in. As he waited for a bowel to be passed down to him, Fu decided to continue their conversation from earlier.

"So you told me that you met Mrs. Agreste years ago and told her about the temple," he started, encouraged by the old Rat's nod. "There is one more question I had- why do the instructions start from the town way back near the waterfall trails? Why not start from here?"

The old Rat laughed. "Oh, that's easy. My family originally lived there, and so that was the trail we had been familiar with, the one that our ancestors had taken. Most of our family still lives there. I chose to move out here, when I discovered that this village was closer to the temple ruins. It was quite a recent move, really- maybe twenty years ago?" He glanced at Tsomo, who shrugged. "After I met that girl, and after my wife passed. I had been planning to move for quite a while, though. The trip out took ages, where now it is only a couple days' journey to get there."

"That _is_ convenient." Master Fu had to admire his dedication. He and the other six top-level Chosens could move across land quite quickly when they wanted to, but the lower-level Miraculous holders didn't have that same ability. They could move faster than normal humans when transformed, yes, but they could not move as fast as a speeding train like he could, or fly so quickly that all the world practically turned into a blur. Trying to hike all the way out without that would take quite a while.

He himself had only hiked that first day, when he had had no other choice. The rest of the way, he had flown on his shell.

"Did she know Tibetan, then?" Master Fu asked. "Or did her friend translate, or...?"

"I speak Mandarin and so did she," the old Rat told him, and Master Fu nodded. He had suspected as much. "So does Tsomo. Oh, I should have asked- does anyone else in you party speak Mandarin? We could speak that instead if it would allow more of the group to partake in the conversation."

"Two of them do," Master Fu admitted. "One better than the other. For the timing being, however, I would like to keep discussion about the temple in Tibetan. Some of the conversation might be, ah, upsetting to one of them in particular."

Tsomo nodded gravely as he accepted the bowl that had been passed to him. "That's understandable. The temple's history is long and glorious and filled with a great many good things and great accomplishments, but there are some rather upsetting events as well. In particular, its fall."

Master Fu winced as he accepted his bowl. Yes, that part was _not_ the temple's shining moment, and he was partly- nay, _largely_ responsible for setting in motion some of the events that brought about the final fall. That, to his knowledge, was the most upsetting event that the temple had involved in by _far_.

"It must have been rather impressive when it was all active," Tsomo added. "With all of the buildings standing, and the trainees in the courtyard, and the fields active... I try to imagine it every time that I visit."

"Have you visited the temples often since then?"

Tsomo nodded. "Quite often. I've been working to get all of the bodies that were there properly buried. There were only bones left, of course, and some scraps of clothes that had survived, but I didn't feel right leaving them out in the open for the crows to peck at. I've recovered some of the books that were there as well, but the burials have taken precedence."

Master Fu nodded, burying another wince in favor of trying to think about the situation objectively. Prioritizing the burials was perhaps not what he would have done- the scrolls and research was important, and after all the dead could not be saved- but he was glad that the children wouldn't be subjected to seeing the skeletons. They were too young to see it, too young to have to face the severity of the loss from so long ago. They were there to try to rescue Adrien's mom, not to see the bones littering the courtyard and be forced to think about all of the deaths that had happened years prior.

(Master Fu wondered if the younger trainees had made it out. The oldest ones had stayed to fight, he knew- they had had enough training to actually make a difference and to have a chance at surviving- but they had decided to evacuate the large groups of young children that made up the lowest classes of trainees. He had never found out if they had been successful in getting them out, and did he really want to know?

After all, what if they _hadn't?_ What if they had all been struck down as they ran for their lives?)

"So that's what the fresh dirt is from," Tsomo finished. "You'll see it when you get there. I've cleared the courtyard area, and what I could see from a couple of the buildings. I found the old Butterfly and Peacock, and could label their graves. The others...well, I marked where the grave was, and all of the information that my kwami could sense from the bones."

"Age and sex, mostly," the old Rat elaborated. "If there was a distinctive enough magic mark on them, then what they were training to become. But it's hard to learn much from some bones that are over a hundred fifty years old."

Master Fu nodded, wondering if he and Wayzz would have been able to figure out anything more with the information they could get. After all, he had grown up at the temple. He had known all of the Miraculous users and quite a few of the magic users as well, while no one else in the world could say the same.

Still, maybe it was better for him not to delve _too_ deeply into figuring out who had died in the attack that day. Everyone he would have known from his time there would have already passed by now anyway, either in the attack or naturally. It wasn't healthy to continue beating himself up over a mistake that he had made well over a hundred years ago. He would thank Tsomo for burying his fallen brethren and leave it at that.

"I thank you for your work," Master Fu told Tsomo. "I would not want my fallen colleagues to lay out in the sun forever. They deserved better than that."

Tsomo inclined his head in agreement, and a silence fell over their end of the table. The six other members of Fu's group fell quiet as well, eying the three of them warily.

"Let us move on to more pleasant topics of conversation," the old Rat proposed after a minute, breaking the suddenly uneasy silence. "So! Tell us about your journey so far. I'm _very_ curious about how it has gone."


	11. Chapter 11

Their day of rest and regrouping and restocking was...well, not very relaxing, at least for the humans. They had to go through their bags and unpack everything, pulling out things to wash from their own backpacks and removing the empty cans and rice bags and other trash. The old Rat- named Dorjee, they had learned- had said that they could offload their trash and they would take care of it, which meant that they wouldn't have to keep digging through empty bags and cans to try to find what food they had left. While the teens did that, Master Fu had headed out with Sabine and Tsomo to buy some fruits and vegetables from the Rats' neighbors to replenish the fresh food in their supply.

"It'll be nice to have some fresh food in our meals again," Marinette said as she sorted out the pile of trash, separating the cans from the empty plastic bags. "And it'll be nice not to worry about how much we'll have left. I know we got a lot at the start of the trip, but _still_..."

"We've been eating a lot," Adrien agreed, finishing her sentence. "With all of the hiking, especially. It'll be nice to be restocked, even if we _are_ losing a day of travel."

"I'm sure that having Tsomo's help will take off more days than the side trip here has added," Alya pointed out reasonably from where she was hand-washing her laundry in a basin filled with soapy water. It hadn't taken long for them to figure out that the house had no electricity, so while they had a stove to heat up their water and a pump to get as much water as they would need, doing laundry wouldn't be as simple as tossing their things and some soap into a machine and pressing _start_. It was one of the reasons why they would be busy all day, since everything had to be done by hand. "And Wayzz clearly needed the break."

They all looked towards the counter, where Wayzz was _still_ sleeping. He had passed out the evening before after munching on veggies for several hours and had yet to wake up. Master Fu didn't seem overly concerned about it, so presumably his kwami would wake up soon.

"We're probably not going to be able to transform into Ladybug and Chat Noir for a bit after we get back," Adrien said, glancing over at Marinette. "Our kwamis will be too tired. But I suppose that's for the better, so no one looks at when the superheroes were gone and when we were gone and put things together."

"Except they won't have been working _nearly_ as hard as Wayzz has, since the trip back is supposed to be shorter, and they'll have the entire plane ride back to relax. But we _could_ wait on going out as Ladybug and Chat Noir again," Marinette allowed. "You're probably going to have a harder time sneaking out with your mom back, after all."

Adrien's expression closed off slightly as he nodded, and Marinette realized her mistake. They had all been trying so hard not to _assume_ that the spell would work, just so they wouldn't be getting Adrien's hopes up in case something went wrong. It was just getting increasingly hard to remember to do that as they drew closer to the temples, because she was feeling increasingly optimistic about their chances of getting there and succeeding.

But they weren't there yet, and the spell hadn't been done to free Mrs. Agreste. It would be- no, it _was-_ irresponsible to actually voice her optimism out loud and get Adrien's hopes up now, even if they now had a guide to direct them straight to the temple. Even if Duusu, as the kwami with some predictive sense, was getting a good feeling about the outcome of the trip.

Even if everything _did_ seem to be going right for them, momentary scare from the Rat aside.

With the trash sorted and put in the bins that Dorjee had indicated, Adrien and Marinette repacked the large bag of food and supplies and then moved on to laundry. Chloe was just visible through the doorway, looking rather displeased as she hung her own just-washed clothes up.

Marinette stifled a giggle at the memory of when Chloe had been told that there was no washing machine in the house and everything would have to be hand-washed. They were each doing their own clothes too, so Chloe had had to get her hands wet and had been less than pleased about that. Even though it wasn't pleasant to hear her whining, it _did_ at least assure all of them that Chloe hadn't been taken over by body-snatcher aliens or anything. Marinette had been starting to wonder, especially when Chloe had accepted her mom's offer for a haircut and then hadn't complained about the result at all.

The rest of the morning flew by as they washed their clothes and hung everything up to dry in the courtyard, then took turns taking showers while the rest of the group made lunch. By the time Tsomo, Master Fu, and Sabine returned, the group of teens was sitting at the table, listening to stories that Dorjee was telling them and Adrien was translating. Marinette was sure to keep an eye on her boyfriend to make sure that he wasn't feeling drained by the constant translation at all.

Thankfully, the return of the rest of their group meant that Sabine could step in and Adrien could sit back and take a break. He and Marinette moved to the back of the group, where they could listen but still sit back and talk about something else if they wanted.

"It's interesting that so many people in his family were Chosen," Marinette commented as her mom started translating. "And that they picked so many more to go through training. I wonder why?"

"And I wonder if that was common," Adrien added. "If it was just the Rat's family or others as well. Master Fu hasn't ever said anything about other members of his family going to the temple."

Marinette worried her lip, glancing over at the old Guardian. "It's possible that there _were_ other members of his family there and they were killed in whatever battle broke out."

"There weren't," Tikki assured him. "He was an only child, born of parents who were only children. There were past holders in his bloodline, but his parents hadn't been picked to stay and work on learning magic, or to be holders of their own."

"Actually, they _chose_ to leave," Wayzz corrected as he floated past and happened to overhear their conversation. "They had completed their training, but didn't agree with what the temple was trying to do. I believe that they hadn't wanted Master Fu to go, but finally relented. After all, change is best implemented on the inside. It is unfortunate that he didn't have the opportunity to produce that change in a peaceful manner, but I doubt it would have been easy. By the time Master Fu went through, the temple leaders were _very_ set in their ways."

"So _was_ it common for a lot of people from certain families to go through?" Adrien asked, frowning. "Why?"

Wayzz stayed silent for a few seconds, clearly thinking his answer over. "Well, there _are_ side effects of having a Miraculous. You're exposed to magic- a great deal of magic- on a regular basis. And that has a lasting effect, and even passes down to offspring."

"It's why we don't exactly encourage passing a Miraculous down through a family," Tikki explained. "That residual magic builds up over time. It's good for being in tune with magic and being able to cast it without being a Miraculous holder or even working in tandem with a Miraculous holder, and there were theories that if someone had many ancestors who were holders, they might manifest untold powers, or even be able to transform without a kwami's assistance."

"But the leaders of the temple didn't care what we said," Plagg added. There was a scowl on his face. "They wanted to push the boundaries. And really, Master Fu shouldn't be beating himself up so much over the temple's fall. Sure, he was the one who tipped the balance that last little bit too far, but the actions of the temple over the centuries before that had started the process."

Marinette and Adrien exchanged a glance. "So whoever it was who attacked the temple, they had had a lot of holders in their family?" Marinette guessed. "And so they were really good at magic?"

Tikki nodded. "And they were angry that they hadn't been Chosen, too, since it was seen as such a...well, as an expectation, at that point. They were kept on as a Mage, though, and entrusted with several texts."

"I can see where this is going," Adrien said, sitting back and looking at Marinette. "They created and then recruited kids with some tendency towards magic, and then when some of them were rejected in favor of others, they got bitter."

"Something would have given eventually," Tikki agreed. "And we warned them! Duusu warned them! But did anyone listen? No!"

"Wait, so what about the Rat and the other Miraculous that have been passed down through families since the temple fell?" Marinette wanted to know. "They're bound to have powers, right?"

Tikki shook her head, then paused before nodding and then shaking her head again. "Technically, yes? But their kwamis wouldn't have told them what to do to access those powers if they weren't needed. And they _would_ need training to even realize that they had powers at all."

"And more recently, with longer lifespans, the Miraculous aren't passed down to the next generation until _after_ that generation had children," Wayzz chimed in again. "So then it doesn't affect the generation after that. It gets diluted back out over time."

"So if the kwamis were warning them against recruiting so heavily from the same families, why didn't anyone listen?" Adrien asked. "Why were they trying to breed magic kids?"

"Well, they wanted to be well-defended," Tikki started. "And the kwamis had made no secret that they didn't want to be confined to the temple from the start. So their 'compromise' was that once they had enough powerful Mages, our Chosens could venture out in search of trouble more, accompanied by either another holder or a paired Mage. And- well. The second part was just conjecture, really."

Adrien and Marinette sat up and listened, interested. Tikki made a face, clearly not eager to say any more. Plagg looked uneasy as well.

Wayzz glanced around before answering, making sure that the others in the group still weren't paying any attention to them. "There was an idea that maybe, after enough generation, people would have powerful enough magic that it would pull in some of the kwami that were created when the universe was born, but never really solidified here on earth as _physical_ beings like Tikki and Plagg and I and the others in the box." Wayzz gestured to the other kwamis. "They thought, how cool would it be to have _more_ Miraculous, to have more powers to work with? It was a poor idea from the start, though. I suspect that given another generation or two, the tendency towards magic in non-holders would either plateau or become too much for a single human to bear."

Marinette worried her lip as she considered the new information. The more she heard about the temple through the kwami's point of view, the more she agreed that it was a good thing that it had fallen. It kind of sounded like despite their original good intentions, it had warped into a power-seeking group. It was truly fortunate that they hadn't tried to regroup with what members they had left, and that Master Fu apparently hadn't had the same ambitions as the other leaders of the temple.

"They discovered a lot of useful information about kwami powers and how they could be used, to be sure, and recorded everything they learned so that future generations would be able to access it," Wayzz told them after a minute. "It wasn't _all_ bad. And I quite liked my Chosens. It was just that they got very stuck on what _they_ considered to be a good idea and didn't listen to us."

"So what are the effects of two Miraculous holders having a kid?" Adrien asked, and Marinette's cheeks warmed when she realized that he was glancing her way. "When neither of them have had ancestors that were holders, I mean."

Wayzz opened his mouth to answer, but Tikki beat him to it.

"Actually, Marinette's family has some traces of magic. It's enough to make me think that you probably had maybe two or three ancestors who went through the temple," she told Marinette, making her eyes widen in surprise. Tikki had never told her _that_ before.

"And Adrien's dad, obviously-" Plagg started, but Tikki cut him off.

"That doesn't _count_ , Plagg! And you know that," Tikki scolded. "It only counts when they're users _before_ they have kids."

Plagg looked contrite at that.

"The kids would be able to do some minor magic without a Miraculous, but nothing major or anything worth worrying about," Wayzz told Adrien. "And like we said, they would have to be trained to do magic in order to actually use it. There's no need for you to be concerned."

Plagg's downtrodden expression quickly vanished and he flashed a toothy grin at Adrien. "Were you planning on it being something to be concerned about soon?"

Adrien turned red, and Marinette could feel her own blush darkening. _"Plagg!_ "

The rest of the group turned to look at them, and the two of them only turned even redder. Adrien managed to make an embarrassed hand flop towards his kwami, and the rest of the group's gazes shifted to the kwami as one before they nodded and turned back to pay attention to the Rats as they continued their stories.

Marinette leaned against Adrien as they settled down to listen to the stories again, dropping the topic of the Miraculous children at least for now. Adrien's arm wound around her back to pull her close, and she dropped her head down onto his shoulder.

This was what they had needed, after over a week of hiking and another week before that of travel to get to the start of the trail. Just one day to eat properly, and sleep in a room instead of a cramped tent, and to talk to some new people.

Just one day, and then tomorrow they would be heading out again.

 

* * *

 

Even if they hadn't planned for it in the first place, just one day wasn't nearly enough to get everything done that Master Fu had wanted to do. They had all overslept, exhausted from the days and days of physical activity, and then the shopping for more fruits and vegetables took longer than anticipated. Thankfully the teens were willing to help out with removing the trash from their food bag and with washing their own laundry, but then the food bag had to be repacked carefully, so that the food they had just bought wouldn't get squished in the bottom. He had to get his own things cleaned and hung up to dry in the summer sun, and then of course there were the discussions with the Rats about how much money he owed them for their hospitality and all of the food their group had eaten and figuring out the logistics of having Tsomo tag along with them on the last stretch to the temple, since he would need to bring along his own camping gear as well.

Master Fu was _also_ trying to see if he could arrange to return in a future year to talk more with Dorjee about the history of the temples and the people who lived there, because the other man was so interested in hearing about it- and, well, because he wanted to know more about the family and what the future plans were for the Rat Miraculous.

One couldn't be _too_ careful, after all. If Dorjee had heard from the past Rats about the magical powers that could develop in families with a lot of Miraculous ancestors... well, he didn't want _that_ to start up again.

Dinner flew by in a flurry of conversation and translations back and forth, and then Tsomo headed off with Dorjee to make sure that his uncle would be all right on his own for a few more days. Master Fu took the opportunity to make sure that his group was prepared for the next few days.

"I just want to remind you all that the trip home will be very hard on all of the kwami," Master Fu started seriously. He gestured to where Wayzz was hungrily munching down on a pile of fern fiddleheads on the table. "It'll drain them, being transformed for so long. I did my best to prepare Wayzz before our trip, and I wouldn't be surprised if he goes into a bit of a hibernation once we're done. So no using powers just for fun. If an emergency comes up, only then should you consider doing anything more than just keeping your basic transformation."

All of the kwami looked very serious. Plagg made a face and flopped onto Adrien's shoulder, clearly distressed at the idea of so much work. Marinette raised a wary hand.

"...yes, Marinette?"

"Chat Noir and I were wondering about if we could get Tikki to create an actual wakeboard for us to use while crossing any large lakes we come across," Marinette said, looking a little anxious. "So does that mean that we have to give up that idea and find a piece of wood every time instead?"

Master Fu considered that. "Well, we don't know for certain if we'll be crossing lakes," he started. "It is likely, I have to admit. But I would say don't use your Lucky Charm for that until we have such a crossing, and then of course keep it afterwards for future use."

Nino frowned at that. "Wait, won't we definitely be crossing a lake, though? Or are we heading back out to the trail a different way than we came in?"

"I have not asked." Master Fu admitted. "There may be a different path that the Rat has in mind. But if we have any more lakes, then that might be acceptable."

Marinette and Adrien grinned. A few of the other teens looked a tad jealous.

"And another bit of bad news," Master Fu said, trying not to look as downtrodden as he felt. He hadn't been looking forward to delivering _this_ bit of news, but it was necessary. "I've been talking to Wayzz, and after a week and a half out on the trail, he's started to suspect that the more weight I'm carrying in the shell, the larger the toll it takes on him. So we're going to have to alter our routines just a bit."

"No more rides in the turtle shell?" Chloe asked.

"No more _unnecessary_ rides in the turtle shell," Master Fu clarified. "Not unless we're just doing a short shot at high speed. And you'll have to transform with your big backpacks, so that those aren't in the shell. Some rides won't be avoidable, of course- the Rat will have to ride with me in order to keep up with the group, and Mrs. Agreste will as well- but we don't want to exhaust Wayzz."

The group nodded, looking serious. Master Fu knew that they probably weren't thrilled, especially since they were getting more and more tired of hiking all of the time and it was so much easier to just ride along than it was to run or jump or pole their way across the landscape.

"And I just want to remind everyone before we start out again that we should get into the habit of only referring to each other by our superhero names when transformed," Master Fu continued, figuring that he might as well get the rest of his comments out of the way. There were fewer complaints about the shell news than he had expected, though perhaps that was because they had seen how tired Wayzz had been. "I know that I haven't set a particularly good example with that from the start of our journey, since I didn't discourage people from using my civilian name while transformed, but it's something we _should_ do. And I would even extend that into the time that we're not transformed, in case Mrs. Agreste overhears us talking while we're in the tents."

"That'll be easy enough for when we're talking to Ladybug and Chat Noir, I feel," Nino joked, gesturing at Adrien and Marinette. "Since we were used to calling them that for _ages_. Same with the Rat. The rest of us, though..."

"Well, that's why we have to start now." Sabine glanced over the group. "I'm sure we can get used to it."

Fu hoped so. It wouldn't be the end of the world if Mrs. Agreste discovered the identity of _almost_ anyone in the group- Ladybug and Chat Noir being the exception, of course, and it not being a _huge_ deal would only hold true if the entries in the journal were accurate and she didn't have any designs on any of the Miraculous- but he would prefer that they all stayed undiscovered. It was safer that way.

Thankfully, it seemed that Ladybug and Chat Noir were already in the habit of using only superhero names when they were transformed, and the others in the group were so used to considering Ladybug and Chat Noir as completely separate from Marinette and Adrien that they weren't likely to trip up there. He was naturally more used to using superhero names rather than their given names as well. But there was still a chance that one of the newer superheroes could mess up and spoil their cover.

"I also wanted to remind you that in the event that we succeed with our mission, we will have to be careful about what we talk about," Master Fu continued before the group could get into any sort of debate about who was or wasn't most likely to slip up. "No mentions of what grade you'll be entering or what school, or names of your friends, or where you live. It probably won't take her long to figure out that we live in Paris, at least, but maybe we can keep the neighborhood a secret."

There were nods of understanding all around, and Fu had to hope that they would all remember. It was easy enough to say now that _yes_ , they weren't going to say anything that might give Mrs. Agreste any hints about their identities (and _yes_ , the Miraculous magic would protect them, keeping Mrs. Agreste from making any connections _too_ easily, but it wasn't foolproof). It would be harder to actually _do_ it.

There couldn't be any more offhand comments of _oh, we should get together with Rose and Juleka and Mylène_ or _I wonder how many races Kim and Alix have done so far this summer_ or _I'm gonna spend the rest of the summer lying next to the pool on top of Daddy's hotel and not walking at all._ No references to designs that Marinette was drawing, or Alya's work on her blog now that Ladybug and Chat Noir were semi-retired, or Nino's work on an entry for a music competition, or Tom and Sabine's bakery.

It was harder than they would think it was. Fu knew from experience, when he was fleeing from the falling temple and couldn't tell the people he met on his travels about his previous life. Even now, well over a hundred years later, there was so much that he couldn't bring up with normal people.

He could say that he was originally from Tibet, of course. He could say that he grew up there, but not _when_. He couldn't mention why he had left. It was important for him to not reference _too_ many experiences and trips, because then people started to wonder how he had fit in so much when he was just a humble massage and herbal therapy business owner.

"Is that it?" Chloe asked after a few too many moments of silence. "We just have to not do anything stupid that might give us away. We've all heard of the Superhero Code of Functioning or whatever. _Keep your secret identity secret_ is, like, number one on the list. Basic stuff."

Master Fu caught sight of Marinette rolling her eyes at that while Adrien looked exasperated and tried not to smile. The two of them knew full well how hard it could be to keep a secret identity secret from people they knew. It could take some practice to not just blurt out things that they would normally say, and only the two of them and him had any experience with that.

"That is it, and I'll remind everyone again once we get closer," Fu told Chloe. "And just to remind everyone, we'll be starting out bright and early tomorrow so be sure to turn in early."

"And Tsomo is coming with us?" Alya asked, just to confirm. "To show us the fastest way to the temple?"

Master Fu nodded. "He will be. It will be nice to have another guide, one who is more familiar with the landscape than I am." Heaven knew that it had been _ages_ since he had been in the area. "And we'll be able to go faster all the time. It'll shave a few more days off of our journey, for sure."

The grins that he got in response to that said it all. _Fabulous_.

 

* * *

 

Just like they had on every other day on their trip, they set out early. Dorjee saw them off, waving from the doorway as they all transformed and headed off at the approximate speed of a speeding racecar, squinting against the chilly early-morning wind. The Rat rode in the shell behind Jade Turtle, clutching tight to the shell as they raced over the landscape.

"We aren't going to try to do the rest of the trip at this speed, are we?" Rena Rouge called, voice raised to be heard above the wind. "I don't mean to complain already, but it's _really_ hard to keep up like this."

"What, can't you swing it?" Queen Bee taunted. She was flying behind Master Fu's shell, hanging on with one hand and letting herself be pulled along. Lycaena was doing the same. "This speed is _fun!_ "

Rena scowled. "You're not even doing any work!"

"Girls, please," Jade Turtle cut across before Queen Bee could respond. "Once we get back to where we were when we met the Rat, then we will probably slow down a bit again. After all, he's never taken the trail at these kinds of speeds before."

"It looks slightly different as a blur, huh?"

Rena Rouge rolled her eyes at the smirk on Queen Bee's face and refocused her efforts on running as fast as she could. She and Paon had the hardest task out of all of them, really. Jade Turtle of course only had to focus on steering- the speed didn't seem to take any extra work or concentration from him at _all_ , the Rat got to ride along since he couldn't run at super-speeds, Queen Bee and Lycaena got to get dragged along by the shell as long as they kept themselves in the air, and Ladybug and Chat Noir- well, they had managed to get into a routine of poling and yo-yoing across the landscape as a team, and they were making it look completely effortless.

 _And_ they were somehow managing to look cute together at the same time. It was utterly unfair, really, but Rena couldn't help but smile a little as she glanced over at the superhero duo.

They were every bit as cute as Rena had thought they would be, though she couldn't say for certain if she was referring to what she had thought Marinette and Adrien would be like or what Ladybug and Chat Noir would be like when they finally got together.

It was a mix of both, really, if perhaps leaning a little more towards the Ladynoir dynamic. There was a level of comfort there that hadn't been present between Adrien and Marinette before, and banter that Alya hadn't expected from them. But knowing what she did now, well...

Their level of comfort with each other- and Adrien's tendency to turn to Marinette for support- made perfect sense.

"I wish we could double up like them," Paon called to her, speeding up briefly so that they were jumping and gliding side by side. "Ladybug and Chat Noir look like they aren't even trying, don't they?"

Rena Rouge nodded as her boyfriend perfectly echoed her own thoughts. It was frustrating being hardly able to keep up with Jade Turtle- and how odd was that, that a turtle could go faster than a fox? perhaps it was just a matter of seniority- and she was going to get exhausted _really_ fast.

It was too bad that Trixx and Duusu couldn't lend their energy to Wayzz so that she and Paon could just ride along in the shell like they had before for the entire journey. _That_ had been fun.

So Rena Rouge ran, jumping and running and hoping that she wouldn't land funny as Jade Turtle sped over fields and through narrow trails. She got to hop back in the shell as they went zipping over the lake that Chat Noir and Ladybug had wakeboarded over on the way towards the Rat's house. Ladybug and Chat Noir fell behind briefly as Ladybug summoned a wakeboard, and then the duo was zipping across the water after them. Both shell and wakeboard sent up a plume of water behind them, and Rena Rouge reached out behind them, trying to catch some of the water on her arm. Even through the protection of the suit, she could feel a bit of the water's bite, harsh enough that it would probably hurt quite a bit if she weren't transformed.

Then they were jumping out as they got to the shore and jumping straight back into their all-out sprint. Then the lake was fading into the distance and they were zipping over a familiar blurred pile of rocks as they reached the same part of the trail where they had left off. The Rat scooted forward and started saying something to Master Fu, and their course altered, just a bit.

They must already be starting their shortcut. Rena perked up. Maybe they would slow down soon, and then she could actually enjoy their journey again.

They went up a ridge and then skimmed over the rock maze that they had been approaching earlier on, forcing Rena Rouge and Paon to watch their steps as they jumped from one rock fin to another. Ladybug and Chat Noir yelped as Chat Noir's baton skidded on the rock and sent them tumbling down a crack. They were back up seconds later, and then Ladybug slingshotted the two of them over the rest of the rock maze. Chat Noir whooped as they flew over the rest of the group.

"You guys are show-offs, I just want you to know!" Rena Rouge yelled after them, even though they probably couldn't hear her. "Freaking show-offs!"

Paon laughed. "At least they can't be smug about it, seeing as how they fell ass-over-teakettle before that."

They were over the rock maze before long, and then they were slowing down as the Rat needed to look for smaller, more easily missed landmarks.

"Oh, thank goodness," Paon breathed, stumbling a little as he adjusted his speed. "I like moving fast, but there _is_ a limit. It's only really fun for short bursts."

Rena only nodded, too tired to do much else.

"Okay, we'll be stopping for lunch soon," Jade Turtle called after another hour as they slowed further. They were drawing close to a forest, with towering trees and deep shadows. "We'll get a bit of a break then before we continue."

Rena Rouge blinked. Was it _really_ lunchtime already? It couldn't possibly be, could it?

"I could go for a bit longer," Ladybug said, echoing Rena's thoughts. "We're on a roll right now, why stop?"

Jade Turtle nodded. "Okay! We can keep going and stop in the forest, then. It'll be cooler there anyway. It probably wouldn't be pleasant sitting out in the sun while detransformed."

"And yet, we're fine when we're transformed!" Paon said appreciatively, long-jumping and landing well out in front. "Thank goodness for climate-controlled supersuits!"

Rena laughed at that, running and jumping after her boyfriend. He was right, of course. Her suit didn't feel _cool_ , exactly, but she didn't feel hot and sticky anymore. It was probably a smart feature- after all, if a holder was half-dying from the heat and humidity (or the cold), then they wouldn't fight very effectively. If they were at least comfortable (and especially if their enemy was not), then they could fight properly.

...not that she would be a terrific fighter even with the temperature absolutely ideal. She just hadn't had that much experience yet, and honestly, the chance that she would _get_ that experience was... not high.

They plunged into the forest, flashes of colors between the shadows of the trees. A few times, Rena only barely missed colliding with a trunk of a tree when she tried to move too fast.

(A crash and some muffled swearing told her that Paon hadn't been _quite_ as successful at weaving between the trees. Rena resisted the urge to turn around to make sure that he was all right, but a) she knew that the supersuit would protect him, and b) if she lost concentration for even a second, Rena knew that _she_ would be the next one slamming into a tree.)

They ran (and jumped, and poled, and flew) for nearly an hour again before stopping for a late lunch. It was nice to have fresh food again, and for once Alya savored her lunch instead of scarfing it down in order to not actually have to taste it.

She was going to spend _ages_ eating an enjoying her mom's cooking once she got home, Alya knew it already. Her entire family would no doubt think it strange, since _staying with Marinette's family_ suggested getting to eat meals cooked by her world-famous great-uncle, but she wouldn't be able to help it.

Maybe she could claim missing the familiar flavors of her family's favorite dishes. That would make sense, wouldn't it?

"It's nice to have a change of scenery," Nino commented as he polished off his sandwich. He gestured to the trees around them. "We've been doing mountains and fields and rocky stuff for _ages_."

"We had forests at the start," Adrien pointed out. He had already finished his food, though Alya suspected that it might have been more of a defense mechanism to prevent Plagg from stealing all of the cheese from the sandwich before Adrien had the chance to eat it. "But yeah, it's nice to be back in the shade. It's hard to pole my way along, though," he added, waving a hand up at the tree limbs. "I can only go so far up before I would start hitting a ton of branches on the way down. Open fields are better for that."

"Ladybug could swing you guys along, though, right?" Alya asked. "I know you wouldn't be able to swing as far or go _quite_ as fast as you do in the city, but with your yo-yos, especially now that you have two of them..."

Marinette blinked, startled, as though she hadn't thought of that. "Oh, yeah! We could try that. The trees are mostly tall enough for it."

Adrien punched the air in mock triumph. "Yes! I can hitch a ride for a bit! That'll be great."

" _If_ it works."

As Alya finished his meal, Adrien wandered off to talk to Chloe for a bit. Alya felt a twinge of guilt as she watched. Even though Chloe _had_ admittedly been helpful on the trip, both as a source of money and as a scout, and she hadn't been _that_ bad at school for the last bit of the year (particularly after she got Pollen), most of the time the four of them hung out as a group. They tended not to include her much, but then again, it often seemed that Chloe didn't exactly _want_ to hang out with them.

Still, they had been on the trail for nearly two weeks at this point, and two weeks was a lot of time to spend largely alone and isolated from other people- and they wouldn't even be finishing the trip at the end of the second week. Plus there had been that initial week of travel out via plane and road, and they would have the same thing going back. Maybe she should try harder to actually talk to Chloe and include her.

(Were they going to be the best of friends after all of this was over? Definitely not. There was just too much bad history there. But Alya _could_ play nice for the duration of the trip, as long as Chloe wasn't in a bad mood.)

With lunch polished off and their leftovers tucked back into Master Fu's backpack, they all transformed again and were off. Rena Rouge grinned as she watched Ladybug swinging easily from tree to tree like a kid on the monkey bars at the park, Chat Noir clinging to her like some sort of oversized kitty backpack. It really hadn't taken them long at all to adapt to the new way of moving, but considering how experienced they were as superheroes- well, Rena wasn't really surprised.

Above the treeline, Lycaena and Queen Bee were tracking their progress, flying in a straight line without having to dodge tree trunks and branches. Rena felt a bit jealous about that, really. Neither of them had to pay _that_ much attention to where they were going in order not to smack right into a tree.

And speaking of flying, ladybugs could fly. So why couldn't Ladybug? Maybe that was an experience thing, too-

" _Ow!_ "

Rena tumbled and hit the ground after her shoulder smacked into a tree following a misjudged jump, sending her off balance. She tumbled, quietly swearing under her breath before she found her footing again and kept going.

She had changed her mind. Rena Rouge _hated_ the forest. Meadows were _much_ better, even with their hidden uneven ground and roots sticking up from bushes, just the right size for her toes to get snagged. At least her suit had protected her from the impact.

"I think this bird is tired of the forest, too," Paon told her, slowing down to glide by her side. "Which is funny, really. Don't peacocks live in forests?"

Rena wasn't sure. "Do they?"

"I don't know!"

She had to laugh. "Didn't you look it up at _all?_ "

"Nah, I had better things to do before we left. Studying, mixes that I meant to get done during the school year that I needed to get done before I forgot about them, hanging out with Adrien..."

"It would have been a _two-minute_ Google search, tops."

Paon just grinned, utterly unrepentant.

Up ahead, the Rat said something and Jade Turtle sped up. Rena Rouge did her best to keep up, stretching to her limits. To her surprise, now that she was not nearly as tired as she had been in the morning and could actually focus on what she was doing, she found the suit's powers stretching as well, giving her more power behind each step and jump. She had no trouble keeping up with the new pace, which...

Well, if they weren't in the woods, with hitting a tree a serious possibility, she would have tried to push even harder to see how fast she could _really_ go. It would be fun to try, and to see how much she could push herself and Trixx before it started affecting them.

It took all of her focus to keep up the speed, keep an eye on Jade Turtle and the Rat so she could follow them, and dodge all of the trees and roots that popped up left and right. She hopped over a short bush and kept running, eyes flashing back and forth to make sure that she didn't get lost. She had just gotten into a routine- look, jump, glance to Jade Turtle, check landing, step, step, repeat- when a loud _crack_ followed by a dual yelp, two thuds and then a larger thud had them all skidding to a stop, feet plowing up dirt as they turned to see what had happened.

What they saw were the two Heroes of Paris sprawled on the ground, a large dead branch pinning them down. Ladybug's yo-yo was still wound around the branch, and the large end was cracked off.

It didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened. Ladybug had accidentally snagged a rotted branch that couldn't hold their weight, and it had come down on top of them, surprising them enough that they couldn't manage to get out of the way before it landed. Both superheroes were groaning as they worked to untangle themselves in the cramped space under the branch and slowly push it off. The Rat hopped out of the shell and hurried back to help them, levering the large branch up so that Ladybug and Chat Noir could crawl out, both dusting bits of bark from their hair but otherwise none the worse for wear.

Rena couldn't help it, she really couldn't. She burst out into laughter at their grouchy expressions, clearly a bit embarrassed by the accident.

"I can't believe I thought you were _cool_ once," she told them as they joined her and Paon next to the trail. "Biggest lie _ever_."

"Oh, _shush_ ," Ladybug grumbled, but Rena could see the corner of her lips twitching. "We're cool. Right, _chaton?_ "

Chat Noir perked up immediately, nodding enthusiastically. "Yeah! Super cool!"

Rena Rouge rolled her eyes properly at that. Esteemed superheroes of Paris or not, they were such _dorks_.

Ah, well. She loved them anyway.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops I did NOT intend for there to be such a delay with the update! If you follow me on Tumblr, you probably know that I had some ongoing problems with my computer and ended up having to bring it into the shop for a wipe and reload, since Windows got corrupted (thanks a lot, Windows). Then they were meant to do a backup of all my data, but didn't actually do it, which....gee, thanks. But I DID back up all of my writing myself, and over the past couple of days have been trying to get my computer all set back up again. I'm still working on it, of course (I installed the wrong version of Microsoft Office, whoops), but hopefully it'll all go smoothly from here (*frantically knocks on wood*).
> 
> As always, reviews make my day!


	12. Chapter 12

They had left the forests that morning, and the green plants and gold-dappled trail were now distant memories as the group of Miraculous users headed back into proper mountain range territory, where a chilly wind whistled across the exposed rocks.

"See, I _could_ have brought my winter coat, Bugaboo," Chat Noir teased as they continued their climb upwards. Everyone in the group was breathing hard in the thin air. "I'd welcome it in this weather."

"Except we're transformed, and so it wouldn't make any difference," Ladybug pointed out, eyeballing the rocks in front of her before leaping onto one that looked decently solid. "The coat would vanish with the suit, and all it would accomplish would be adding another thing in your backpacks."

"You know what's funny?" Paon asked suddenly. "When you guys were fighting Lady Wifi and Chat Noir was shoved into that freezer, it looked- just from what I could see, from Lady Wifi's broadcast- like he came out shivering. Like, too-cold-to-function shivering. But then you were fine during the akuma fights during the winter. I always wondered why."

"Oh, that's easy," Chat Noir said immediately. "When I fell in, my Miraculous got knocked off. It must have snagged on something as I fell or something. And then I was in there as myself, and Plagg was out, and it was _beastly_ cold. So when I transformed, I was still feeling the chill in my bones, and then I was getting Plagg's chill, too. And he was frozen pretty much the whole way through, since he's so small. But if I'm bundled up properly when I transform in the cold, or if it gets cold when I'm already transformed, then it's- well, like this. Not bad at all."

Rena Rouge fist-pumped. "YES! I got a Miraculous off! I mean, not that I knew it at the time, but at least I was semi-competent!"

"You let me go when you had me trapped just to try to get me to use my Lucky Charm so I would detransform instead of just _taking_ my earrings," Ladybug reminded her. "Complete fail on the tactical planning- not that I'm complaining, of course."

"It sounded like a complaint to me," Rena teased. She wiggled her fingers towards Ladybug's ears, pouncing upwards towards the rock outcropping that Ladybug was on. "I can remedy that right now-"

"No thanks!"

Up ahead, the Rat was leading the way, following the barely-visible trail. His head was bowed against the wind, but he seemed to be holding a conversation with Master Fu about something. They seemed to talk often, sharing stories of life at the temple and the search to find it again as Lycaena listened in.

It was probably a fascinating conversation, but out of the rest of them only Chat Noir would be able to follow the conversation at all, and he much preferred to stay with the group of teens instead.

They reached the top soon enough, and then were back to following a narrow trail along the edges of ravines and between peaks. It grew steadily chillier, enough that they could notice just a bit, even through their suits. The clouds bunched up, and then it started snowing. They had just scarfed down their sandwiches- thankfully, the food had been kept in their daypacks, so no one had to detransform to get it- when a snowstorm hit in earnest.

And it was showing no signs of letting up any time soon.

The eight superheroes squinted as they forged forward through the snow. The five teens, Lycaena, and the Rat all held on to the edge of Jade Turtle's shell, keeping it from getting battered around by the wind and so none of them would get lost. Jade Turtle directed the group through the pass, consulting his copied directions and his compass frequently.

"Doesn't the Rat know the way?" Queen Bee yelled over the sound of the wind. "We could go so much faster then!"

Fu turned to look at her, then turned to the Rat and translated the question . The Rat made a face and responded, and Fu nodded before turning back to Chloe.

"He says that he always follows the instructions like this, and that's the only way," Fu reported. "The old Guardians used a rope system over the pass, but that's been broken for years. He didn't replace it, because he didn't want to make it easy for others to find their way to the temple if they weren't supposed to be there."

The pass split, and Fu consulted the instructions and the Rat before choosing the left-hand fork. They headed forward with a bit more speed, much to the relief of all of the superheroes. The path became a bit more sheltered, making it easier to walk as well. Their feet sank into the settled snow, and Lycaena and Queen Bee both made a face, lifting off the ground in near-unison to fly just above the ground instead.

"This is going to be difficult to go through with my mom," Chat Noir said in Ladybug's ear, loud enough for her to hear. "It's _freezing_ , and I doubt that she got sucked into the booby trap with a serious winter coat."

"Maybe I can Lucky Charm her a coat," Ladybug suggested. "I bet Tikki could whip up a good one. I'll have to talk to her about that."

Chat's Noir's anxious expression eased. "Oh, that's a really good idea."

The wind howled over the path, whistling across the rock and snow. The group walked faster, trying to jog along the trail and stumbling in the soft snow instead. Jade Turtle looked like he was about to offer to let them ride instead, and then a sharp gust of wind nearly upset the shell.

They would have to go slow and steady, then.

"After going so fast for the past couple days, you would think that I would be fine with going normal speed for a bit, but nah," Paon said. "I just wanna get this part of the hike over with, you know? This is _not_ a ton of fun. Even if I can't actually feel the cold."

"Is there any way _around_ these mountains? You know, for the way back?" Rena Rouge yelled over the wind. "Because if we gotta go this slow..."

"There's no way around it," Jade Turtle called back, sounding far too cheerful. "We cross this, and then descend for a bit- quite a while actually- and then there's a ring of lower peaks around the Valley of the Temples. It made getting there quite difficult, which was the point. That much magic in one place would have made it a _very_ attractive place for evil to attack, if it weren't so difficult to get there."

"And yet it did."

"We were attacked by insiders, who knew the best ways around the natural defenses." Jade Turtle's expression pinched, just as it always did when the topic of the temple's destruction came up. "They knew where to hide, where we would not look. There had been other threats that were deterred properly."

The younger holders exchanged a look and then decided to drop the subject.

They pushed on, going faster when they could manage it and slowing down when the wind and snow made the trip more difficult. Finally, late afternoon, the snow let up and they all piled into the shell to fly a bit faster over the deep snow.

"Wayzz isn't going to be pleased about that," Jade Turtle sighed as they flew. "He's already getting tired again. But if we walked, you would sink into the snow and it would slow us down quite a bit."

"We can get out soon," Chat Noir said. He glanced over Jade Turtle's shoulder as they sped over the snow. "Er, once we get past the snow."

Jade Turtle made a face. "That might take a bit."

They hit a downward slope, and the shell dipped down to sled instead of float. It picked up speed, and they all clutched at the edges and each other in an attempt to not _scream_.

Queen Bee and Lycaena flew along after them, going quickly as to keep up but _definitely_ more under control than Jade Turtle. The shell hit a bump and flew through the air.

Jade Turtle grinned. The Rat looked like he was severely regretting his decision to come along with them. Rena Rouge let out a long, drawn-out, muffled screech, sounding a whole lot like a teakettle. They sped past a large rock and Chat Noir let out a yelp, leaning away and into Ladybug.

"I _am_ steering!" Master Fu shouted over the whistling of the wind. "We're perfectly in control right now!"

"Are you _sure_ about that?"

They took a sharp curve, and this time all four of the teens in the shell let out high-pitched whistle-screams. Knuckles turned white under their suits, and the Rat looked like he was _really_ regretting his life choices.

Queen Bee and Lycaena flew serenely after them. It rather looked like Queen Bee was recording them on her trompo.

Then they were headed downwards again, picking up speed to the point that the scenery blurred. Jade Turtle looked like he was having the time of his life. The rest of them...not so much.

They hit the end of the glacier and snow pack and shot off of the snow. Jade Turtle had to pull the shell back up in the air to keep them from crashing into the rocks and bare ground that had suddenly appeared in front of them, and they kept pelting down.

The Rat said something that, based on the look on Chat Noir's face, was probably not very appropriate. Jade Turtle turned around to give the other Miraculous use a disapproving look, and they all yelled in unison.

" _WATCH WHERE WE'RE GOING!"_

"I am _so_ glad that we're transformed right now," Paon said faintly as Jade Turtle turned back around with a roll of his eyes and only barely managed to maneuver them around a jutting stone. "Uh, I don't suppose we brought along an extra Miraculous so that Mrs. Agreste stays safe when we're pelting headfirst down mountains like maniacs?"

"We're not going to crash!" Jade Turtle insisted. "She'll be _perfectly_ safe."

Chat Noir's expression turned highly dubious.

The landscape gradually got less steep and they slowed down, eventually coming to a complete stop. They all piled out in a hurry, even the Rat. Queen Bee and Lycaena finally caught up to them as they were dusting themselves off, just as Rena Rouge flopped face first on the ground, loudly proclaiming that she was never going to leave it again.

"Come on, come on," Jade Turtle told them, looking a little disgruntled. "We still have several hours of travel left to do today, and we don't want to waste any daylight. Rena, get off of the ground, please. I wasn't going _that_ fast."

There was a muffled shriek of _"ohmygodwhatISfastthem?_ " before Rena Rouge rolled back over and pushed herself up. "Fine, _fine_. I'm up. _"_

"Fantastic!" Jade Turtle beamed at them. "Okay, everyone. Take a drink of water, and then we'll get going again."

 

* * *

 

Summer wasn't _meant_ to be for getting up early every day, and yet Paon found himself doing just that, every single day.

He was going to sleep like a _stone_ when he got back to Paris. Get up every day at noon and not before, and stay up late like the somewhat irresponsible teenager he was supposed to be, making his mixes and texting with his friends when they should all be in bed. But for now...

Paon landed, ran a few paces, and then took to the air again.

It had been a fairly unexciting day, which was nice after the previous day's snow and sledding craziness. It was overcast, but at least not snowing.

All in all, a pretty good traveling day. It was nice to not have the sun in their eyes as they raced along. That made it a _lot_ easier to not trip over stuff in their path, since they could actually see.

And then, right after lunch, the skies opened.

"There's nowhere to stop for shelter," Jade Turtle called back to them. "And it's too rocky for us to be able to pitch our tents. It's not _super_ slippery, though, so we can keep going until we get to a better spot."

Paon winced as the rain ran down his costume. He would much rather just batten down and set up camp for the day to get out of the weather, but it _really_ wasn't a good area to stop.

Then again, there was no guarantee that there would be a better place to stop further on.

"Is there better landscape later on?" Ladybug called, almost as though she was reading Paon's mind. "Like, do we _know_ that there's a better place to stop?"

Jade Turtle and the Rat exchanged a few quick words, and then Jade Turtle turned back to them. "If we keep going at this speed, we should reach another nice cave in under an hour."

"Sweet, a cave!" That always meant that they could move around more easily. Paon picked up the pace. "C'mon, let's get there fast! This rain is _miserable_."

"It's not even that heavy," Rena Rouge pointed out. "It's not just a sprinkle or anything, but at least it's not a straight-out downpour."

"It's still enough to make the rocks slick!" Chat Noir pointed out. His pole vaults had gotten shorter, keeping him closer to the ground. "We might have to slow down. Or we could just keep going for as long as we can, until the rain gets heavier."

"How about we wait and see what it's like when we get to the cave?" Ladybug suggested. "Maybe the rain will get heavier, or maybe it'll stop."

The group forged forward. There were a few times when one of them wobbled on landing as the rock turned wet and slippery, but for the most part their suits accounted for the new surface and kept them from falling.

Which was good, because they had been going for a good forty-five minutes in increasingly heavy rain, and there was no sign of any caves yet. Paon had water dripping off of _everywhere_ \- his hair, his nose, his face, his feathers, _everything_. Rena Rouge wasn't any better, and the two flyers looked absolutely miserable. Up ahead, Ladybug had Lucky Charmed herself a sturdy polka-dot umbrella to carry over herself and Chat Noir. She had detransformed five minutes later, of course, and now it was Marinette clinging to both the umbrella and Chat Noir's shoulders as he propelled them on.

Marinette looked far more comfortable about that than her mother did.

"I wish I had an umbrella like that," Rena Rouge said, speeding up to run alongside Paon. "Trixx doesn't like getting wet like this, either."

"I think Marinette said she was mostly worried because Tikki has gotten sick in the rain before," Paon said, remembering a conversation that they had had earlier in the trip. "Maybe it was coincidence, or maybe Tikki is actually more sensitive to rain than the rest of the kwamis."

"They're going to fall and get Marinette hurt," Rena worried, glancing up at the duo again. "I mean, I know that they know what they're doing, but it's slippery."

"It's rained during akuma battles before, too."

"But they were always both transformed. I think they tend to overestimate what they can do, since they have more experience." Rena sucked in a sharp breath as Chat Noir wobbled on landing. He recovered, though, and then they were off again. "They're overconfident."

"I'm sure Marinette recharged Tikki so that she can call on her in a moment if something goes sideways," Paon pointed out reasonably. "Give them _some_ credit-"

"CAVE! HARD LEFT!"

"Oh, at _last_ ," Paon sighed, altering course at once. "I cannot _wait_ to get dry. _"_

 

* * *

 

It took them barely any time at all to set up their tents in the cave, since they had done it dozens of times before. Paon detransformed with a sigh of relief and crawled into the tent to flop down on his newly inflated sleeping pad. He could maybe snatch a quick nap and take advantage of the break that the weather was forcing on them. Nino stretched and relaxed, listening to people moving around outside of the tent. There wasn't much space to move around now that the tents were set up, really. The "cave" was more of a depression in a short cliff, and their tents pretty much filled up all of the space. If they wanted to leave the tents, they would only be able to take a few steps before they were forced out into the rain.

He had nearly drifted off when he recognized Adrien's voice close by. Nino shook himself back awake, sitting up a bit as he heard Adrien ask if they _really_ weren't going to see if they could make it a little further today.

Nino knew that the closer they got to the temple, the more restless Adrien got in his sleep and the more he wanted to push that little bit further each day. Having a delay like this when they were so close had to be _hugely_ frustrating.

 _Nino_ was frustrated, and he wasn't even the one who's mom was being saved. He just also appreciated the break.

"We'll get there tomorrow for sure," Nino overheard Master Fu tell Adrien. "The weather will clear up overnight, so it should be fine for traveling tomorrow."

"We could take advantage of the rain and wash up," Marinette suggested. "Since it could be hard to do on the way back."

"An excellent suggestion." He could hear Master Fu moving towards the tents. "I'll talk to the others. You go change."

Nino was already digging through his bag for his swim trunks when Adrien came back into the tent. Adrien was drier than Nino had expected, which meant that he had probably been cuddled up with Marinette under her new umbrella when they were outside, as to not get splattered by rain being blown under the overhang.

"You know, I'm really looking forward to having warm showers again," Nino said as they both changed. "Freezing my butt off just for a quick wash isn't fun."

"At least you can get away with a super-quick wash. It makes me wish that _my_ hair was that short." Adrien ran a hand through his hair, pushing it off of his forehead. He had completely given up with styling it at all on the trail, probably because it would require a mirror and a ton of product, and it had fallen into a rather Chat Noir-style arrangement. "It's even worse for the girls."

Nino nodded his agreement. Alya had been grumbling about their last shower not getting all if the soap out of her hair and how gross it felt. She had been considering going to an even _shorter_ haircut, bringing it to only chin-length, but decided against it since the shorter her hair was, the fluffier (or _frizzier_ , according to Alya) it got. Chloe had stopped having the same problem since her haircut, but her hair also behaved better in the humidity.

Adrien finished changing and headed outside while Nino made sure that the drawstring at his swim trunk's waist was suitably tightened. He wasn't long to follow, though, and was startled to find that the rest of the group was already out of their tents, hovering in the small strip of dry cave rather than plunging out into the rain and starting to wash up.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Nino asked, folding up his towel and balancing it on top of his tent. It should stay at least _mostly_ dry there, he figured. That had to be good enough for now. "We'll all die of hypothermia if we stand here waiting all day, so-"

"Nino." Mrs. Cheng's voice sounded amused. "Look out there."

Nino looked. Marble-sized chunks of hail were coming down and bouncing along the ground. He stared for a few seconds, then sighed.

"Okay, never mind with that."

"We can always use the sun shower once we reach the temple," Master Fu told him. "Before we attempt the spell. That way, we're all clean right before we start the long haul back. It'll work out better that way, I think."

In Nino's opinion, _anything_ was better than trying to bathe in freezing cold rain water while ice pellets poured down on his head, but it was probably better not to actually say that out loud.

"So what are we going to do for the rest of the day?" Chloe wanted to know. "I mean, at least we don't have _hours_ left, but I'm going to go crazy in my tent if I have to stay there."

"You all can try to cram yourselves into one tent," Mrs. Cheng pointed out. "The teens, I mean. The adults can talk about how the rest of the trip will go in another tent. And then we can have an early dinner, and go to bed early."

"We can play a game in our tent," Nino offered immediately. "I mean, I don't know _what_ , but we can figure that out later."

"We can play with this app on my phone and decide what haircut I would look best with now that my hair's all cut," Chloe piped up immediately. "I mean, _you_ wouldn't know, but Adrikins and Marinette might."

"Gee, _thanks_. That sounds like oodles of fun."

"It will be! I'm thinking that an uneven bob might be nice. It's _so_ in right now, and then I won't look like Sabrina. And, like, I have nothing against her, obviously, because she's my friend and all, but she has, like, no taste at _all,_ and I don't want to look all twinsies with her. But I don't know how _dramatic_ I want to go with the cut, and the part on my hair. Like, it's been down the middle for _ages,_ so I definitely need a change-up. But _too_ dramatic and I would have my hair in my eyes all of the time, and-"

...for some reason, Nino was now feeling _much_ less excited about their afternoon off.

 

* * *

 

The scenery had turned familiar. Granted, it was the kind of _familiar_ that was more a tickle in the back of his mind, but at least it was any kind of familiar at all.

Jade Turtle was still very, very glad that they had the Rat there to lead them directly to the Valley of the Temples.

"The trail will end soon," the Rat told him. The younger Miraculous holder was clinging to the edges of his shell as though he were speeding along, which was _ridiculous_. They had slowed down their pace a bit from what they had done originally, since apparently the trail got a bit hard to follow and then there were a number of the same-looking paths in the area, to confuse would-be invaders.

He vaguely remembered that, actually. He had created one such path himself, along with several of his peers. There were enchantments to make one believe that they were going in the right direction, when in reality they were headed _around_ the valley and into a similar one a ways off. Those spells had no doubt weakened with time, but they would still have a confusing influence.

"I'm still amazed that two normal people managed to find the valley," Jade Turtle commented as he followed the increasingly faint path. "It's _quite_ well hidden. For all they knew, they could have just been following a dead-end path into the wilderness."

"My uncle clearly gave them instructions that were _far_ too good," the Rat said stiffly. "He had gotten fairly far with his search, but neither of us could find the valley proper. His latest theory is that the magic here is targeted to affect people with any sort of magic most. Neither of the Agrestes had Miraculous blood, presumably. It could have given them an edge, if he is correct. And if he is, then it's a pity he didn't ask one of our neighbors for help."

"Not everyone is up for weeks in the wilderness, searching for what doesn't want to be found." Jade Turtle navigated around a tree. "And I tend to agree with him. There's so much magic around that it would confuse anyone trying to trace the valley by magic, and our greatest enemies were magic-users and creatures." They wouldn't have considered the average person a threat. The elders wouldn't have even considered the possibility of a non-magic user eve _looking_ for them. It was short-sighted, perhaps, but all in all a reasonable assumption. "And it would be hard to find a neighbor to trust with matters like this without them wanting a Miraculous when it was over. And in this area, to find one that you could be sure didn't have any magic in their blood."

"How long would it take for the magic to work its way completely out, I wonder?" The Rat twirled his tail as he talked, clearly deep in thought. "Because I know it runs strong in my family. But the cousins- the second cousins, and third, and even more removed- how much magic do they have?"

"Not enough to cast any spells, I don't think. Nor enough to really add much power to a Miraculous user's spells. But they would likely have enough to get thrown off out here." Jade Turtle glanced back at the group following them. "And I would have to ask the kwamis if there's a permanent effect even with short use. It's hard to know. It wouldn't be as strong, for sure."

The Rat hummed in agreement, then sat up straight, pointing up ahead. "Take the left fork! This is where I had the most trouble. I always wanted to take the right."

"It _does_ look more traveled in that direction," Jade Turtle agreed, taking the left fork. "As though the path were more worn down and frequently traveled. I would say that there were the most enchantments on this path. It's telling me to turn around, even now."

"I would _love_ to know how that couple felt," the Rat murmured, holding a hand out as if to sense the magic. "Did they see two completely identical paths? Did they take the other one first? Or did they know to follow the sense of wrongness instead of ignoring it?"

"We can ask. There'll be plenty of time for that, after all."

They shot over a rise and around a bend. The Rat pointed to the correct branch in the trail, and then sat back to enjoy the ride again. " _If_ I can even talk to her, I'll ask. She, ah, may not be excited to be around me at all."

Jade Turtle chuckled. "Ah, yes. We've talked about this before, haven't we?"

"Yes, and I'll explain that I have no intention- and never _had_ any intention- of actually hurting them, or their family. I just wanted to scare them away, and for good reason."

"The two of them got _crazy_ paranoid and protective of their kid, you know. He grew up unable to go anywhere because his parents wouldn't let them out of their sight."

"Except when they decided to jet off to another country to try to pilfer magical artifacts."

Jade Turtle couldn't help the small smile that slid onto his face. "Okay, I stand corrected: they wouldn't let him out of the sight of either them _or_ their staff."

The Rat snorted- in amusement or derision, Jade Turtle couldn't tell- and then shot a glance over at him. "Is the kid as nosy as his parents?"

 _The kid is right behind us,_ Jade Turtle though, but he would never say it. There was still some lingering anger there, and he didn't want to make things tense. Besides, Chat Noir already wasn't the most comfortable around the Rat. "He's very polite. Well-behaved. The type to help others."

"Like his mother, then. The kind to think that butting in is _helping_."

"He's too shy to do that," Jade Turtle objected. "He would ask first, and then give progress reports on how it's going."

The Rat did not look convinced. Jade Turtle supposed that it didn't matter what he thought of the Agrestes, as long as he stayed in China. And since he had no reason to leave the area, there was no need to worry.

They paused for lunch shortly after the trail vanished for good. Jade Turtle detransformed to let Wayzz recharge one more time, and the little turtle kwami was thrilled to see their surroundings.

"I can taste the magic in the air!" Wayzz told them as they scarfed down their sandwiches. "It's not dangerous anymore, like it was at first. And the magic out here has faded a bit. Which I suppose should be suspected, after so much time."

"So you recognize this?" Queen Bee asked, glancing around at the woods around them. "It just looks like woods. With mountains in the background, I guess, but that describes 90% of the forests around here."

Master Fu tried not to laugh at Wayzz's offended expression. "They're _different!_ Mountains look different, and even the same ones look different at different angles. And forests are different ages, or different heights depending on the elevation, and they have different species, and-"

"Who notices _that?_ "

"You would notice different city skylines, right, Chloe?" Adrien asked. "And Paris looks different from different parts of the city. It's like that, but with trees and mountains."

"But buildings _look_ different!"

"He's never going to win that argument," Mrs. Cheng commented from where she was perched on a stone. "No matter how hard he tries."

"I suppose for someone living in the city, many things out in nature would appear to look the same," Master Fu acknowledged. "And for someone living in the country for their entire life, it could be harder to tell buildings apart. I've been lucky enough to experience both."

"I've heard that many people who grew up in the countryside dislike living in the city," Mrs. Cheng said. "Was that how it was for you?"

Master Fu had to think about it. "Well, I worked my way up. I stayed in small towns first, but it was difficult to go by unnoticed. Strangers tend to stick out, you see. So I went to larger towns, and then small cities. Paris was quite a shock to the system at first, but I like being able to walk everywhere, or take the bus. I also get a decent amount of business, so I can live comfortably without needing to seek customers out."

"So you like it, then?"

He only shrugged. "Well enough." He wouldn't lie- being more on the outskirts of the city would have suited him better, perhaps- but Paris was slowly growing on him. "I could do without all of the traffic noise at night, but I recently discovered these lovely things called white noise machines. My favorite CDs to play in those are the rushing river and crickets. And the rain shower track is quite nice as well."

"And he got blackout curtains for the bedroom," Wayzz chimed in, floating over. He had evidently given up on trying to convince Chloe that different parts of the wilderness could actually be told apart. "Otherwise, there's all of these streetlights shining right in, and car headlights, and ambulance lights, all night long."

"I found it _very_ difficult to sleep when I first moved to Paris," Master Fu told Mrs. Cheng. "Obviously. I would sleep in the back room, and once I tried setting a bed up in the tub since there are no windows in my bathroom. Not exactly ideal."

"When are we going to start moving again?" Adrien called from where he was sitting on the ground with Marinette and the other teens. "Are we close?"

Master Fu chuckled slightly at his impatience. It was understandable, really. They were clearly close, but not _quite_ there. "We'll start again soon, don't worry. We'll arrive at the valley mid-afternoon, so there will be plenty of time to wash up before the sun sets."

"Are we going to try the spell tonight?"

Master Fu shook his head. He had considered it, of course- he didn't want to keep Adrien waiting and wondering and worrying about if it was going to work for _too_ long, but considering when they were going to get in, there would only be time for a single try. They needed to practice reciting the spell first, which was going to be difficult since it was in another language. "We're going to set up camp and then work on making sure that we all know the spell. And take showers, of course. Then we can sleep in tomorrow morning and maybe explore a bit, then try the spell."

Chat Noir nodded, apparently satisfied, and then turned back to whatever conversation they had been having before. Master Fu turned to the Rat, figuring that it would be better to know what to expect now rather than running into something unpleasant later on.

"So, when you said that you had been burying the skeletons- what areas have you cleared?" he asked. "We've talked of doing a tour of the valley, and I don't want to go anywhere where we might run across skeletons."

The Rat thought about it. "Well, I started in the main areas, sweeping the buildings as much as I could. The buildings and the main grounds. The grounds had the most casualties. I've been working my way outwards, looking for any stragglers. I'd say that anywhere you want to show them _should_ be safe. I had my kwami look in the buildings so that I wouldn't miss anyone."

Relieved, Master Fu nodded. "Thank you. And I might have a few suggestions on other places to look, strongholds that people might have fallen back to and escape routes. Hopefully there weren't any further casualties there, but..."

"Yes, there were already quite enough without there being many more."

On that depressing note, it didn't take long for lunch to finish and for them to continue down the trail. It grew narrower and narrower, and finally the Rat had to hop out and lead the way so that Jade Turtle could shrink his shell down to fit between the trees.

If Jade Turtle looked into the forest, he could see the remains of some of the trees that had been ripped down by the invaders, now rotted and decayed.

The trail headed up again, and Jade Turtle leaned forward, automatically accelerating as memories of going up this trail as a kid came back. The ground grew rockier, and the trees thicker. They headed around a bend, and came face-to-face with what _had_ formerly been a narrow opening in the rock, now blasted wide open. A green valley stretched out behind it.

"Well," Jade Turtle said, turning to face the group. "We're here."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wooo they made it
> 
> One really quick side note- I was informed that in Tibet, sky burials are far more common than grave-in-the-ground burials. It wasn't something I thought to look up before writing the story, so some bits in this section of the story were written under the assumption of burial-in-the-ground. I'm still trying to figure out how to alter that to be more region-accurate, so at some point in the future I'll probably come back and edit those mentions.
> 
> As always, reviews make my day! :)


	13. Chapter 13

The Valley of the Temples was _stunning_.

A clear blue stream meandered through the middle of the valley. The emerald green meadow sloped up gently towards the edges, turning into forest before they sloped upwards abruptly in a circle of rolling foothills, merging into several low mountain peaks. Taller mountains peeked over the slopes from further out, some snow-capped and reaching into the clouds. The meadow was interrupted in places by stands of trees...and the ruins of the temples, right in the center of the valley.

"It was more divided up when I was here," Master Fu told them as they all followed him down the valley, pace no longer frantic. "There were fields down there for us to grow our food, and on this far end we had out livestock. There in the middle- it's so overgrown you can't even tell where it was- that was our training area. One section was brickwork, another swept dirt. We learned many styles of combat there. And that grove over there was where we students like to sit and learn. It looks quite different now than it did back then, of course. A large part of it got flattened in the fight, and a good many new trees have come up."

They all stared as they peered around, trying to envision the large valley full of life. It was hard to visualize, especially since the whole place had a lonely, abandoned feel to it. The former fields were overgrown, no hints of the previous crops left in them. The bricks and swept dirt of the training area weren't even visible. The forest had clearly started to creep forward over time, smaller trees springing up on the edge. If they squinted, they could see where the remains of some structures had been near the stream.

And as they got closer to the center of the valley, the ruins of the temples came into clearer relief. In the corner of the largest one, a white light gleamed and swirled.

Chat Noir swallowed hard. Ladybug slid closer to him, wrapping her fingers around his. Lycaena wrapped an arm around him, pulling him into a side hug as they walked. The Rat gave them a puzzled look, and Chat Noir did his best to square his shoulders and look unaffected by the swirling mass of magic light that warned that his mom was trapped there, because it would _not_ do for the Rat to figure out who he was now.

Not that he actually thought that the Rat would be a threat, but he just wasn't _comfortable_ with it.

They were actually _here_. His mom was so close, and hopefully, _hopefully_ , he would have her back within twenty-four hours. He wouldn't be able to run up and hug her like he so desperately wanted to- he had to keep his secret identity secret from her, _just in case_ \- but he would be able to see her, and know that she was safe.

The nerves were building in his stomach.

"We can set up camp by that orchard over there," Jade Turtle told them, pointing as he headed that way. "There's a mountain stream that runs nearby, and we can refill our water there. It's also gorgeous."

"And not too close to the ruins, which are creepy," Queen Bee piped up. "And- is that a _graveyard?_ "

"I _did_ mention that there was a battle here, right?" Jade Turtle reminded her. "It was not like the akuma battles in Paris. There were _heavy_ casualties."

Queen Bee shuddered. " _Gross_."

Chat Noir blinked, then looked to the Rat. The other user couldn't understand the conversation at all, of course, but was also looking at the graveyard. Chat Noir looked again, and noticed something odd. Some of the graves were _fresh_.

Like, just-this-past-month fresh. Or just-a-few-months-ago fresh. Which in turn suggested that there had been burials in the not-so-distant past, even if there hadn't been people dying here recently.

Which _also_ suggested that the Rat hadn't just been returning to the valley just to keep it safe from invaders. He had been returning to give his fallen ancestors and their companions and teachers the burial they deserved.

...that had to be _really_ depressing.

Master Fu pointed out a few more things- some of the old dorms, the large garden where he often sat and studied herb lore, a crater in the ground that hadn't been there prior to the attack- but Chat Noir had more or less checked out. A slight breeze had picked up, and the magical light was bobbing and swaying with it, leaning towards them as though it could sense their presence.

Did his mom have any sense as to what was going on in the outside word while she was trapped? Or was everything just blank until she was rescued?

They reached the orchard and detransformed, pitching tents in a half-circle. Mrs. Cheng and Master Fu worked on preparing the kitchen area while the rest of them headed off with the water filter and every water vessel that had been brought along on the trip.

"Dibs on using this first," Chloe said as she filled up one of their Sun Showers. "I will _die_ if I have to wait another _week_ to get a hot shower, and I know that the sun's gonna go down soon."

"I'll go last," Nino volunteered. "It takes me less time to wash up, so I don't mind as much if my water isn't _super_ warm. Or I can go if someone doesn't have enough water in their bag for someone with long hair to do a complete shower."

"We're going for two people per bag, then?" Marinette asked as she filled their second Sun Shower. "Making sure to turn the water off while soaping up?"

"That's the only way we'll even be able to _hope_ to get through everyone this afternoon." Adrien capped off another water bottle before reaching for the next one. "And we might have to do the heat some water in a pot, mix it with a bit of cool water, and then dump it over our heads thing to get everyone through. The sun isn't going to be up _forever_."

"A couple people could go tomorrow after the valley tour and before we try the spell," Marinette pointed out. "If we _need_ to. It's possible that the last four people might just have to deal with lukewarm water."

They finished filling up all of the bottles and bags with water and headed back. Master Fu already had veggies chopped up for a stew, and Mrs. Cheng was mixing up a flatbread to have with it. The Rat had prowled off somewhere, just leaving the seven of them.

"We'll have dinner cooking soon," Master Fu told them as they set up water bottles and put the sun shower bags out in the sun. "And then we can practice reciting the spell. I know I introduced it earlier in the trip, but, ah..."

"I've forgotten it," Chloe announced right away. She scoffed at Marinette's startled expression. " _What?_ It's not in French, so _obviously_ I wouldn't remember it."

"I've been working on memorizing it every night! Well, _almost_ ," Marinette corrected herself when Alya gave her a dubious look. "Every night when we weren't _completely_ exhausted. I tried to get a section memorized, and Tikki coached me."

"And I _generally_ know it because of her, I just need to polish it up a bit," Alya chimed in. Nino nodded.

"Same. I've been listening to Adrien practice."

"Well of course _Adrien_ knows it," Chloe sniffed, apparently choosing to ignore the fact that the others had been working steadily on learning the spell as well. "He's good at remembering stuff in other languages. And I'll work hard on it. I'm good at memorizing things short-term when I work on it. It's how I pass all of my exams. It's easier than studying a bunch."

"That's a, ah, very useful skill," Mrs. Cheng managed, looking as though it wasn't very nice at all but she felt as though she had to say _something_. "But I suppose we should start working on that right away. We want to be ready for tomorrow, after all."

"And the spell won't work in French, are we sure?" Chloe asked, clearly still not enthused about the idea "Because _that_ would be easier to memorize."

"The kwamis think that it wouldn't work," Master Fu told her. "And it's not as though there's a direct translation for all of the words. This is just how we know the spell works, so I don't want to mess with it."

" _Fine,_ " Chloe grumbled. "That's still stupid, if you ask me. But I can start now. So, what's the spell, again?"

 

* * *

 

The sun was high in the sky by the time they headed to the temple ruins the next day, all transformed and with the intention of trying out the spell for the first time. They had spent the previous evening taking their showers and polishing up their knowledge of the spells. Marinette, Adrien, and Mrs. Cheng (and, of course Master Fu) all had it memorized. Nino and Alya needed work on their pronunciation. Chloe...

...well, at least she had thrown herself into it and made a good bit of progress. And while they were taking a tour of the valley that morning after their lie-in, the Rat drilled her on the spell.

They were ready. Hopefully.

Chat Noir's grip around Ladybug's hand had grown tighter as they drew close to the dancing light. She gave him a gentle squeeze back, but it was hard to tell if it had helped at all.

"Okay, everyone form a circle," Jade Turtle called. "The main seven, I mean. Try for even spacing. Okay. Now, hands out, like so. We'll go in three, two, _one_ -"

Ladybug raised her hands to mimic Jade Turtle and carefully started reciting the spell. They had worked on it so that they would all talk at the same rate. The column of light grew more solid, settling into a human height. It grew brighter, and brighter, and brighter-

-and then dimmed, thinning out and going back to normal when they were only partway into the spell. Ladybug frowned, hoping that _maybe_ that was just something that was supposed to happen.

They got to the end of the spell. The light remained as it was.

"Once more?" Jade Turtle suggested. There was a slight from on his face. "All together?"

They started again. The same thing happened. The Rat spoke up, saying something in Mandarin. Ladybug looked to Chat Noir for translation.

"He said that the pronunciation might be wrong," Chat Noir explained quickly. The panicked look on his face had faded somewhat. "Which- I mean, I wouldn't be surprised."

"We probably should have had one last run-through before coming out here," Paon agreed. "I bet I was off again. And I _also_ bet that I wasn't the only one."

"Let's break for lunch," Jade Turtle suggested. "We'll review pronunciation again there, then try again later this afternoon. We want to get this problem ironed out as soon as possible, but I'm sure you all would work better on a stomach that isn't empty."

They all made noises of agreement and moved away from the ruins, carefully picking their way over broken stone and brick. Ladybug was at Chat Noir's side immediately, and they lagged behind the group as they headed back.

"I thought it was going to work there," Chat Noir said quietly as their fingers laced together. "I really, really did. The light _changed._ And then it just...didn't."

"At least we're on the right track," Ladybug offered, unsure of what else she could say. "We got a reaction, even if it ended up dropping off. That's better than it, like, just not reacting at all and just being a blob of light, right?"

Chat Noir nodded and detransformed. Plagg swirled out of the ring to perch on Adrien's shoulder. The kwami looked startled, glancing around. His eyes settled on the light and he visibly drooped, snuggling up to Adrien's neck in his own form of comfort.

"We're going to try again after lunch," Ladybug, releasing her own transformation. "There were probably some pronunciation problems. We should have been spending more of our evenings practicing, apparently."

"But you've had it down perfectly these past few days!" Tikki objected. "I mean, you've got a moderately strong accent when you say things, but it's clear enough that it _should_ work with the magic."

"We're guessing that the problem is probably Nino, Alya, and Chloe," Adrien chimed in. He was slowly recovering from the disappointment of not having their first attempt work. "They weren't _quite_ as dedicated as Marinette about learning the spell. Alya and Nino just need to work on pronunciation. Chloe..."

"She remembered the spell pretty quickly," Marinette said. " _Really_ quickly. The basics of it, at least. But her accent is worse than mine, and pronunciation..."

"It's harder for her to memorize _exact_ pronunciations and words in a foreign language than it is to memorize just enough to skate by in classes at school, which she _should_ have known." Adrien neither looked nor sounded pleased. "I would have thought that she would have put in at least a _little_ effort beforehand."

Marinette reached out for him, her fingers curling around his arm. She didn't blame him for his frustration- none of them could believe it at first when Chloe mentioned that she hadn't even _started_ trying to learn the spell that would release Mrs. Agreste- but it wouldn't help anything for him to get frustrated and take it out on Chloe now. They needed to stay calm, breathe, and try to help the others learn their pronunciation and remember it for at least as long as it took to get the spell to work.

"Hopefully we can get them all ready by the end of lunch," Marinette said, pulling Adrien closer. "Then we can try again. And we _do_ have the Rat to help coach people."

Adrien nodded, and then the two of them sped up to re-join the group. Master Fu had leftovers from their dinner re-heating on the stove, and Mrs. Change was listening to Alya's recitation of the spell while Nino listened. To the side, the Rat was listening to Chloe. In the few seconds since they arrived, both had received a pronunciation correction.

"Hoo boy," Adrien muttered as they went to join Master Fu. "Okay, we _definitely_ should have spent our rainy days getting drilled on that rather than playing games all day. And back when we were doing normal hiking, we could have been memorizing, too."

"They're all close," Master Fu told them as he handed them the water jugs to fill. "Very close. We should have just done a run-through a few times right before heading to the temple, and that probably would have eliminated the problem."

Adrien just nodded.

They practiced all through lunch, going over the same words over and over until everyone had the proper pronunciation absolutely memorized. Then the kwamis got re-charged and they headed back across the field, still muttering the spell under their breaths.

Ladybug hoped that it would work this time. It _had_ to.

"Keep your focus, guys." Jade Turtle called. "Ready? Three, two, _one_ -"

The pillar of light gleamed and grew stronger, getting less translucent. It condensed to the height of a human, and then started narrowing. It had just started to look human-shaped when it dimmed again, going back to the loose swirling mass.

"Let's try again," Jade Turtle suggested as soon as they had finished and nothing had changed. "Focus and make sure that you're saying everything right. I _know_ we can do it. Again."

The same thing happened. Chat Noir's expression had turned worried again.

"Let's break again and do a bit more practice," Master Fu proposed. "Surely _someone_ is tripping up somewhere."

Chat Noir frowned as they all stepped away again. " _Again_. This is going to take _forever_."

"It might just be one person at this point," Ladybug pointed out. "Which could be easy to fix."

"Or it could be the wrong spell and it won't work at all."

Ladybug hoisted herself up on top of a broken wall, detransforming and pulling Chat Noir against her so that his head was tucked under her chin. "Tikki, you can understand the spell, right? Does it _sound_ like the wrong spell?"

Tikki shook her head. "No! No, it doesn't. It definitely mentions release from a trap. It _sounds_ right, and obviously it's working to some point."

Chat Noir sighed, settling into her arms. "That's true. There must just be an error, then. You're right."

"We'll get it, kitty."

Jade Turtle came up to them then. "The others are all getting the spell right. If you two could run through it really quickly, just to check..."

Marinette went first, followed by Chat Noir. Jade Turtle's frown grew deeper.

"Well, we're all pronouncing things correctly," he said, frowning. "We got _that_ fixed, at least. We'll try it one more time. If that doesn't work, I'll revisit the spell and see where I've gone wrong. I'll keep an eye on when we lose the spell and pay particular attention to the translation there."

Marinette transformed again and one more time, they formed their circle. Chat Noir was looking properly nervous now, but he let out a deep breath, squared his shoulders, and lifted his chin. His eyes went to Jade Turtle, awaiting the signal.

Ladybug couldn't be prouder of him. She couldn't even _begin_ to imagine how hard it must be for Adrien to stay composed and focused through their failures. She was having a hard enough time with staying focused and not letting her mind wander to worries of _what if it doesn't work_ , and it wasn't even _her_ mom that they were rescuing.

The group started again, frowns on all of their faces. The light grew, then died back again, just like it had before. Chat Noir pulled his eyes away from it as soon as their recitation was finished, a pained expression on his face. Ladybug was at his side immediately, wrapping him up in a hug.

"Master Fu still has to look at the spell again," she reminded him, feeling the way he leaned into her, limp and miserable. "There might be something translated wrong, or maybe there's some hand motions to go along with the spell that we don't know about. We'll figure it out, kitty cat. No matter what, we are _not_ giving up."

 

* * *

 

Their group had headed back to the campsite in silence, occasionally glancing back at Chat Noir as they went. Once they were back, the kwamis were released in a multicolored flash of light, and then both kwamis and wielders settled down in their little cove. Master Fu headed into his tent to pull out the Miraculous book and settled down a short distance away to double-check his work.

After glancing at Adrien, Alya pulled her things out of her and Marinette's tent and brought them over to Nino's tent, waving Adrien over so he could join his girlfriend. Adrien managed a smile at her and carried his things over to Marinette's tent, crawling in immediately and setting up right next to Marinette's sleeping bag instead of on the other side of the tent like Alya had before returning to Marinette's side.

"I can't even imagine what he must be going through right now," Nino murmured in her ear as they watched Adrien. His knees were drawn up to his chest and his chin was perched on his folded arms as he stared a bit blankly at the fire that the Rat was setting up. "We've come so far, and now the spell isn't working right." He sat up straight all of a sudden. "You don't think we need _all_ of the Miraculous active, do you? I don't know if we'd be able to find holders for them all."

Alya worried her lip. "I don't know. That seems like a really big thing to miss. But if that's the problem, then at least we would know where to go from here." She glanced over at Adrien. "But I don't know how we would be able to get away with another trip like this. It's not like it's a weekend camping trip. I had _such_ a hard time getting my parents to agree to this, when we had no idea when the end date would be. They weren't expecting me to be gone this long, either, which is going to make it difficult if we have to go again."

Nino snapped his fingers and pointed at her. "But we know where to go, now. Maybe we could hire a 'copter- when I say _we_ , I mean Chloe, or Nathalie once that money is cleared- and just fly out and back. Then we could say we're on a weeklong camping trip and get away with it."

"We'd have to find people with passports to be holders, though. Either that, or find people here." Alya glanced over at Master Fu again. He was immersed in his notes, brow furrowed as he checked his translation against the copy of the original text. Over on the side of the camp, Adrien was still in the same position as before, but Marinette had returned to her spot at his side. Her arms were around him and her head against his shoulder as she whispered to him. Tikki and Wayzz were there as well, clearly trying to cheer Adrien up a bit. Wayzz didn't stick along for long, though, before flitting off to re-join Master Fu and the Rat in bending over the notes in search for something that they might have missed.

"Hopefully Master Fu figures out what went wrong soon," Alya commented quietly. "So we can at least _know_ that something wasn't right, and _that_ was why it wasn't working, instead of just... _this_."

They kept sitting. Nino once opened his mouth to suggest they maybe play a game, but then caught sight of Adrien again and thought better of it. Then Sabine got up to start preparing dinner and he hopped on the opportunity to get up and help. _Anything_ was better than sitting around and moping until they figured out what had gone wrong.

Mrs. Cheng was distracted as she directed Nino, glancing over to Adrien frequently. Nino winced as he watched, hoping that she wouldn't accidentally cut herself while working. When he saw an opportunity to take over, he took it.

"I can chop those, Mrs. Cheng," Nino said, snagging the cutting board from her. "Then you can get the, uh, rice started. Or whatever it is that we're having with this."

"Is this a ploy to get me away from the knife?" Mrs. Cheng asked with a small laugh, seeing right through him. She handed it over to him regardless. "That might be a good idea, I will admit."

Nino managed a small smile as he took the knife and started cutting. "Yeah, I can tell that you're a bit distracted."

"I _so_ hoped that we could get the spell to work today," Mrs. Cheng told him by way of explanation. "Just to get that part of the trip over with. Hopefully we can figure out where we went wrong and try again tomorrow."

Nino nodded, slowly and carefully making his way through the vegetable cutting. "Yeah. Having to have an entire day of waiting would stink."

"It really would. And can you cut those a bit finer, please? It's so difficult to get everything to cook through in such a large pot when the pieces are big."

"On it, Mrs. Cheng!"

Even with Nino's super-careful fine chopping, dinner didn't take _nearly_ long enough to make. He brought two bowls over to Master Fu and Tsomo, who hadn't made any move to leave their work at all, then got in the end of the line to serve himself up last.

"Do you know where our food is stored, Nino?" Duusu asked politely, appearing at his side. "We- the kwamis, I mean- are hungry, too."

"Of course, dude!" Nino leapt and the chance to stay busy. Setting his bowl aside, he dug in the big backpack with all of their food and supplies. "Okay! Uh, dried figs for Trixx, sugar cubes for Tikki, a chunk of cheese for Plagg-"

"Can I have two?"

"No, we don't want to run out. I can throw in a couple dried mushrooms, though."

Plagg made a face and snatched up his cheese. "Nah, I'll hunt for fresh ones. We have the time."

"Okay. Wayzz, some dried pea pods for you-"

"Thank you!"

"Honey for Pollen- how much do you get?"

Pollen whizzed up to him, a grin on her little face. "An entire bottle!"

Nino laughed. "You do _not_. Chloe, how much does Pollen get?"

Chloe glanced over. "Just use that little cup that's in the kwami food bag. That's what it's for."

Nino dug, and it didn't take long for him to find the measuring cup. "Got it! Thanks, Chloe."

Chloe just gave one sharp nod and turned back to her food.

It didn't take long for the last two kwamis to get fed, and then Nino could finally finish dishing up his own food. He sat down between Alya and Marinette, shoveling a generous forkful of food in his mouth. Across their little circle, Adrien was nervously picking at his food, but at least he _did_ seem to be eating some.

 _Gah_. Nino understood the tension in the group, but it was going to give him indigestion. And indigestion was _not_ something that he wanted to deal with in the wilds, not when their options for a bathroom were _behind a tree_ and _in a destroyed ruin of an ancient bathroom._

Maybe he shouldn't complain. Normally they only had _one_ option, aka _behind a tree_. Or a rock. Or a bush. But Nino couldn't deny that there was also something deeply unsettling about using the bathroom in an outhouse that had half a wall blown out and the roof completely gone, particularly when the view out of the blown-out wall overlooked the new graveyard and part of a destroyed temple.

Dinner finished, and Alya and Chloe dove in to volunteer to package up the leftovers and clean up the dishes. Nino raised a brow at Chloe's sudden enthusiasm for cleaning, but he guessed that she wanted to try to avoid the uneasy tension as much as he had earlier. He had just started trying to figure out what he could do as an excuse to get away from the campsite when there was a shout from the far side of the site. They all jumped and turned to see a triumphant-looking Master Fu sitting there, beaming.

"I have found it!" Master Fu announced, sitting straight up and grinning at them. Next to him, Tsomo was looking pleased. "With Tsomo's help, I have discovered why the spell didn't work! There was a simple mistake in my translation."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :D


	14. Chapter 14

Even with Master Fu's discovery, there had been no further attempts at casting the spell that evening. He wanted to keep combing through the code, he had told them, just in case he had made any more translation errors. The kwamis clustered over to help again while the rest of them puttered around the campsite, trying to come up with things to do.

Adrien still had gotten Valerian tea overnight to help him sleep better, and Marinette had curled into his side for additional comfort. Still, it was fairly early when he started stirring, waking Marinette up as he tossed and turned.

"Sleep, kitty," Marinette murmured, sliding one arm across his chest. She tucked herself closer. "'S early."

"But I'm awake," Adrien murmured back. His arm wrapped around her, warm and familiar. He was quiet for a few seconds, and then let out a groan and rolled over onto his back. "There's no way that I'll be able to go back to sleep. Not today."

Groaning, Marinette pushed herself up, checking the watch that she had strapped to her backpack. It wasn't _unreasonably_ early, just...earlier than she would have wanted. And early enough that they were now going to have that much more time to wait before they could try the spell again. Master Fu had to do one last comb-through of the spell before he taught them the altered version, and that could take _ages_.

Still, they got up and dressed, taking their time because, well, they had plenty of it. The rest of camp was still asleep and in their tents when they emerged, still yawning and stretching.

"Maybe I should just take more tea, but then I'll be groggy all day," Adrien said, sitting down onto a low rock. "I'm just all wired right now, and there's no way I could have just gone back to sleep. You could have, though," he added, looking at Marinette. "I know you like sleeping in."

"I wasn't going to leave you to worry on your own." Marinette settled down next to him, kissing his cheek. "I can sleep once we're back in Paris. You'll have to drag me from my bed."

"What kind of boyfriend would I be if I'm dragging my girlfriend from her bed?" Still, a small smile had found its way onto his face. "My mom _did_ teach me some manners, you know."

"You'll be a boyfriend that's making sure that I'm actually making the most of my day. Within reason, of course." She leaned into his side, resting her cheek against his shoulder. His arm went around her waist, his head dropping to rest against hers. "And I'll tell you if I want to sleep in more. You won't have to guess. _And_ you can always join me."

She could feel his smile against the top of her head.

It didn't take long for Master Fu to emerge from his tent. He paused, momentarily startled when he spotted them sitting there.

"I woke up early and couldn't fall back asleep," Adrien told him, shrugging. "So we got up."

"Understandable, understandable. I don't blame you. Nerves _can_ wake people up early." Master Fu moved across the campsite to their stove and got some water heating for tea. "Even anticipatory nerves. Duusu feel _quite_ optimistic about our attempt for today, I should have told you. He felt a bit uneasy before, but now..."

Adrien smiled and nodded, but it seemed a bit pasted on. The corners of his mouth drooped back down once Master Fu's back was turned, and Marinette snuggled closer, concerned.

"I just don't want to get my hopes up again until we actually get it to work," Adrien murmured in her ear. "I mean, I know he's trying to keep me from getting discouraged and all, but I don't want to get _crushed_ again when the spell goes wonky."

Marinette nodded, understanding. It had to be _exhausting_ to get all eager and then have his hopes crushed, again and again. They had the spell a ridiculous number of times the previous day and while Adrien no doubt hadn't expected much anything out of the last few tries, they had kept going back in with high hopes that had never _quite_ panned out.

"I just want to stay in the _very_ cautiously vaguely optimistic mindset for now." Adrien leaned farther into her, resting his head on her shoulder. "Duusu being optimistic could mean that we're one step closer to getting the spell right, or that the translation is right now but it'll only work if we all can remember the change in the spell. Which, considering that the spell is in another language and none of us actually knows what we're saying, except for Master Fu..."

"We're bound to mess it up a few times first," Marinette finished. That was going to be _awful_. "But if Duusu is feeling properly optimistic, then maybe that means that they found all of the mistakes and it'll just be a matter of everyone remembering the change."

It didn't take long for Master Fu to get some tea made and passed out for them to drink. Marinette took hers gratefully, sipping at it carefully to make sure that she didn't burn her tongue. Adrien was more cautious, sniffing at his cup and glancing over at the old Guardian.

"It won't make you fall asleep again," Master Fu assured him. "It's just a normal herbal blend for the mornings, good for waking people up and keeping them alert. I've always said that once you're up, you might as well be properly awake so as to be properly productive."

Adrien nodded and started sipping.

Tsomo was the next up, and he nodded to them as he made a simple breakfast. His kwami wasn't far behind him, and they both ate and then vanished in the direction of the temple.

Adrien wondered if he was looking for any more victims to remove from the ruins.

"We'll be coming together to learn the new version of the spell late morning," Master Fu told the two of them, pulling their attention away from the Rat. "Until then, you can do whatever you want. I would suggest at least _trying_ to eat first."

"We should probably wash up first, and then eat," Marinette suggested, pushing herself to her feet and then giving Adrien a hand up. "And once we finish, then we can decide what to do for a few hours."

So they did. Just as they were finishing up with breakfast, Mrs. Cheng emerged from her tent and headed over to talk to Master Fu. Marinette overheard them mention _Duusu thinks..._ and _The chances of it working..._ before Adrien abruptly hopped up, leading the way over to the cooking area to get rid of his breakfast dishes and to hover just out of hearing distance of the two adults. They didn't stay there long, though, before Adrien grabbed Marinette's hand.

"Okay, let's explore," Adrien said suddenly, pulling her away from their campsite. "Let's just go somewhere. _Anywhere_."

"Was there something that you wanted to see?" Marinette asked in confusion as she followed her boyfriend. Adrien just shook his head.

"Then why..." Marinette trailed off as she caught sight of the glow emulating from the ruins of the temples, the only sign that Adrien's mom was trapped there. From their new position near the cooking area, the glow had been clearly visible. Suddenly asking why Adrien wanted to get away from the area seemed like a _really_ stupid question.

Of course he wanted to be literally anywhere else. If he wasn't, he would just end up not being able to focus on anything but his mom and the light and if they would actually be able to rescue her, and that wasn't particularly healthy. And if they had moved elsewhere in the site, then they would be overhearing nothing but conversation about the rescue, which- even though it was generally optimistic- was _also_ something that Adrien wanted to avoid, for his own mental well-being.

Marinette hoped that they would succeed the next time they tried the spell, without more fuss and near-misses. It would be _awful_ to get so close and go home empty-handed. They would be able to return and try again if they failed now that they knew where the temple was and could just charter a helicopter ride out, but it would be a lot of stress on Adrien in the meantime.

Besides, it was possible that Nathalie wouldn't approve another trip to China. Or either Nino or Alya's family might say no. Then they would have to either reassign the Miraculous- which would _suck_ , and who knew how an imperfect match would affect the spell- or wait until they were all old enough to make their own decisions about international travel.

Adrien led the way across the valley, resolutely away from the main temples. As they walked, Marinette caught sight of some buildings largely hidden by the trees. They were smaller and had clearly never been as grand, but now they were in better condition than the flattened main temples. She pointed them out to Adrien.

"We could explore those," Adrien said immediately, changing course. "They look like they should be pretty safe. And since we're Miraculous holders, that means that we should be safe from any traps, right? Or would we need to be transformed?"

"There's no traps over here," Tikki assured him. "Only on the main temple, where the Miraculous holders slept. And the Miraculous would protect you from that, yes. You don't even need to be transformed for that."

"Great." Adrien sped up, and Marinette followed. An unpleasant thought occurred to her, and she slowed down slightly to consult Tikki.

"Tikki, didn't people die in a battle here?" Marinette whispered. "What if there's _bodies_ in there?" She didn't think that she could handle seeing bodies. She didn't think that Adrien could, either. That was just _morbid._

"They'd be just skeletons by now," Tikki assured her. Not that that was particularly reassuring, really. Marinette had no interest in seeing skeletons, either. "And I doubt anyone stayed in these buildings. They would have either evacuated or gone out to fight."

Still, Marinette worried. What if someone had gotten caught off-guard and was crushed in bed? That would be awful to see. And now this whole _exploring_ thing didn't sound so smart, either. They hadn't seen any skeletons so far, which surely meant that the battle had largely taken place elsewhere in the valley, or else the Rat had already gotten things largely cleaned up. What if they happened to stumble across the place that it had been, or somewhere that he had missed?

"I'll keep my sensors out and warn you if there's anything nearby," Tikki assured Marinette, apparently having guessed her worries. "But you should go ahead before Adrien starts wondering what's keeping you."

Marinette let out a little yelp- oh, right, her boyfriend _would_ notice that she wasn't right behind him- and then hurried forward. Adrien was already peering through the doorway of the first building, glancing around the inside. He looked back at her when he heard her come up.

"It goes almost directly into a hallway," Adrien told her. "There's a kind of mudroom first, though."

Marinette followed him as he stepped into the building. The open space _did_ look like a mudroom, with hooks and shelves on the walls. A few coats still hung there, and a few shoes were stuffed into the cubbies below. A bag lay abandoned on a rotting bench, a large rip running along the side.

"I'm surprised that this stuff isn't entirely gone by now," Adrien commented, stepping closer to the bag. "Or at least in worse shape."

"Well, a lot of it is leather, so that's durable," Marinette pointed out. "And some of it might be spelled, too. Master Fu said that that's how the Miraculous book survived in such good shape when it was in a ruined building."

"But that's a really important book. This stuff is just normal, everyday stuff." Adrien crouched and picked up a shoe. "This barely even looks worn, from what I can tell."

"Well, maybe it is spelled, so that it wouldn't need to be replaced as often. They were working on limited resources here, after all." Marinette glanced over at the kwamis. "Can you tell?"

"They're spelled," Tikki confirmed. "To resist wear. That way, several people could wear them after the previous person grew out of them. The head monks were _very_ big on reducing waste, and clothes were an easy enough target."

"That's smart," Adrien admitted. "It's so easy for us to get new clothes that I forget that it isn't that way for everyone." He set the shoe back down exactly where it had been, careful not to disturb the dust. "I bet that there's a lot of clothing still left here, then. They wouldn't have had time to pack, and I doubt anyone would come back just for some clothes."

"It would have been too dangerous, with the rogue magic still swirling around." Tikki swirled around the room, glancing at shelves and hooks. "They also spelled really breakable stuff, so that it wouldn't have to be replaced if a kid accidentally knocked it over. So there might be some really delicate vases around that are still in perfect condition."

"Wait, so why not spell the buildings as well, then?" Adrien wanted to know. "So that they could have a kind of fortress?"

Tikki just shook her head. "They _were_ spelled. But they just couldn't stand up to sheer force and the amount of magic getting thrown at them."

Adrien's eyes were wide. "There was _that_ much magic flying around? That's terrifying!"

While Tikki tried to explain the battle that had gone on, Marinette headed down the hallway. Several of the doors were no longer on their hinges- an effect of time or getting blasted off, Marinette wasn't sure- and so she glanced into the rooms. One had a partially collapsed ceiling, with the remnants of two beds under the broken wood beams. The rooms were all a mess, as though they had been well-lived in and then left in a hurry.

"It's sad to see something so clearly abandoned," Adrien said, appearing next to Marinette's shoulder and making her jump. "I'd love to see what it looked like when there were actually people living here."

"I overheard Alya talking about that with Trixx last night," Marinette said, moving on to the next room. It looked virtually untouched, the little mess looking more like everyday mess rather than frantic evacuation mess. Marinette couldn't help but wonder at the distance. Had the occupants been elsewhere when the attack happened and never made it back? Had they gotten away safely, or been killed in the attack? "Trixx said if Alya transforms and puts herself into a trance, she could create a Mirage of what the temple used to look like back in the day. I think she even said it would include people going around."

"That would be cool!" Adrien ducked past her into the room, looking around at the worn rug on the floor and the neatly-made beds. Several candle stubs were lined up along the two desks that sat next to the bed. "And also really, really sad. It's already kind of creepy seeing everything here, looking like almost no time has passed at all."

"We'd have to do it right before we leave, because otherwise it would just be really awful to see the ruins after that." Marinette stepped back out of the room. While it was cool to see how the trainees lived, it was also really eerie. It made the people who had lived there more _real_.

There were people who had lived there and died there. Many had been young. While it had been good that the temple couldn't continue their mission of breeding strong magic users, there had been a lot of people sacrificed to get that. And a lot of those people had been innocent, completely convinced that the temple's purpose was entirely good.

They kept exploring. Some of the rooms were in better condition than others, some left entirely normal where others had clearly been hastily evacuated. It was a good distraction- at least until they reached a room that directly overlooked the main temples. The concentrated glow was more distinct from this angle, swirling gently in the breeze. For a moment, it formed a hazy silhouette of a tall, slender woman.

Adrien's breath caught in his throat.

Marinette reached out and took his hand as the light shifted back to abstract, gentle curves of light. Adrien seemed almost entranced, leaning forward with his free hand gripping the window frame.

Should she pull him away? Marinette hovered, indecisive. Thankfully Adrien made the choice for her when he sighed, stepping away from the window.

"What if it doesn't work, Marinette?" he asked quietly. His voice was scared. "What will I do then?"

"We won't give up," Marinette assured him. "We'll keep trying. You heard what Master Fu said about having translated something wrong. He's found an error, that's why it didn't work yesterday. It's not like it didn't work and we don't know why."

"And if it fails again?"

"Then Master Fu will look it over again. Maybe he'll search through the ruins to find other books to look for more instructions." Marinette reached out to grab his other hand and pull Adrien to face her. "And maybe it won't work this time, and we'll have to go home. But we'll come back and try again, and this time we know where the temple is so we could just book a helicopter and fly out so it won't be such a long trip."

Adrien nodded. Marinette knew that his fears weren't _completely_ relieved, though. Even if they had to come back again, there was no guarantee that _that_ was going to work. Until it did, Adrien would worry about it.

Hopefully the spell would work today. It wasn't healthy to worry for so long.

Adrien let out a sigh, stepping closer to Marinette and resting his forehead against hers. "I'm lucky to have you. I'd be going crazy with nerves otherwise."

"Which would be completely understandable," Marinette pointed out. She gave his hands a light squeeze. "We have Ladybug luck on our side, though. That has to count for something, right?"

Adrien smiled, pulling her close to him. "Right."

 

* * *

 

Mid-morning, both Nino and Alya emerged from their respective tents, yawning widely. They settled down on a couple rocks around their cooking area, blearily munching on the leftover flatbread from the previous night. Chloe was already up, yawning widely as she typed something on her phone.

"Wait, are Adrien and Marinette still sleeping?" Nino asked when he noticed that the last two members of their group weren't there. "I would have thought that Adrien would have had trouble sleeping. Though I suppose he _did_ take that tea."

"Adrien and Marinette already took off to explore a bit," Sabine told them. "They woke up early and didn't want to sit around, I think. It's a good idea, since we won't be poking around much this afternoon. I'll probably be doing a bit of a stroll myself. Not _much_ , of course, since I'm pretty tired of walking, and not far in case we're called back, but it would be nice. And don't forget to feed Trixx and Duusu. Fu left out a good portion for both of them."

"Proper food, and proper portions of it, too!" Duusu spun around happily, pouncing on his pile of food. He inhaled half of it in the blink of an eye. "I feel energized again! Alive! Active! The dried food isn't my favorite, of course, but it'll do."

Nino did his best not to laugh. People could argue that Plagg was the most food-obsessed kwami out of the group, but he would just tell them that Plagg was the worst at hiding it. It had become increasingly evident as the trip went on and the kwamis had to deal with lower-quality food than they were used to that _all_ of them liked their food of choice, and they had all made comments about not being able to wait until they got back and could eat to their heart's content again.

Granted, Plagg was the only one that was making plans to bathe in a cheesy fondue fountain once they got back to Paris and composing new, entirely cheese-related lyrics to songs, but that could probably be put down to a difference in how the kwamis expressed enthusiasm.

(Nino was 110% certain that he had overheard a conversation between Chloe and Pollen that was _entirely_ comprised of discussing if Chloe could maybe get a discount if she made a particularly large order of honeycomb, and how much she could feasibly have in her room before the hotel staff or her father noticed. Pollen had argued that the amount of honeycomb would go down fast with her eating it. Nino was of the opinion that the ants would probably find the honeycomb before any of the hotel staff.)

"It's so sad that we're missing the peak of the fruit season while we're on the trip," Trixx said as he swallowed a chunk of dried peach. "Everything would be on sale now! No matter, I'll just have to make up for it when we get back."

"Within reason," Alya was quick to warn. "I only have so large of an allowance, and everything I make from ads on the Ladyblog goes towards my savings for university."

Trixx pouted. "Aww!"

"I will be sure to buy all of the kwamis a treat when we all get home," Master Fu called to them from across the campsite. "Within reason, of course, but I can afford more than the teens can, I would think."

Trixx and Duusu cheered.

As they ate their breakfast, Alya spotted Adrien and Marinette across the valley, wandering between some trees. She pointed them out to Nino, and he had to squint to make out the small forms of their friends.

"I don't think I want to explore," Nino admitted as they watched. "I'm tired of walking, and we're going to be pushing _so_ hard on the way back that we'll probably feel pretty tired, even with the suits."

" _Same_." Alya flopped out on the ground, setting her empty bowl aside. "I can understand Adrien having a lot of restless energy and Marinette being willing to accommodate that, but me? I'll rest, thank-you-very-much. Even if this _is_ a super-cool place."

"It's strange seeing the valley like this," Duusu commented, landing on Nino's cap. He could feel the little god's shifting weight as he got settled. "It used to be so busy and full of life! It was interesting, of course, even if we didn't think that it was a good idea."

Trixx nodded in agreement, flashing a toothy grin. "Yeah! All of these young teens around, all primed for mischief. It was _great_."

Alya grinned, sitting up. "Yeah! I know you've told us some stories of what people got up to here, but can you think of more? I'd _love_ to hear more."

"Yeah, that would be cool!" Nino agreed. "We can kill some time that way."

Trixx's grin widened. "Of course! Now let me think. Approximately three hundred and seventy years ago, there was a pair of mischievous young boys who entered the temples a little later than usual. They became Miraculous holders eventually, both of them, but when they arrived- oh, _everyone_ thought that they would be out by the end of the year. Now one day, near the start of summer..."

 

* * *

 

They gathered back at the campsite for an early lunch, and then Master Fu taught them the change in the spell, a small error that had made _all_ the difference.

It was a _very_ small mistake, and had had a huge impact. Unfortunately, it was also _very_ difficult to remember the change since it was so small. As a result, learning and remembering the slight changes in the spell took up most of their early afternoon. More than once, people ended up on autopilot and recited the old version of the spell instead.

"I truly hope that that was the only change needed," Master Fu sighed as Marinette stumbled over her words again. She scowled, obviously frustrated with herself at the mistake. "It's hard to remember small alterations in something memorized in another language, I know. And I apologize for the mistake. I should have been more careful when translating the spell."

"At least it's not, like, a repetitive chant or anything," Nino chimed in helpfully. "We only have to get it right all the way through once. And yeah, sure, all seven of us have to do it at the same time, but at least you three are really good at picking other languages up."

"That still leaves four of us with no idea of what we're saying," Alya pointed out. "And if one of us goes wrong, even for a moment, then we have to go again."

"I was trying to look on the bright side."

Adrien winced. While he and Sabine definitely _were_ better at picking up the spell and remembering it despite not knowing the language that it was in, they weren't _perfect._ He had messed up several times himself, though he _had_ caught on faster than the others.

"I don't think there would be any harm in practicing around the trap," Wayzz piped up. "Then if you do get it right, you can stop."

"I would tend to agree," Tikki added. "We can practice on the walk over. But first- guys, you need to clean up camp! I can count at least three things lying around that could put your identities at risk and we need to be prepared for company."

Alya and Chloe both yelped and scrambled to pick up their phones, which had been left out on rocks. Nino snagged the notebook that he had been writing ideas for mixes down in and tossed it into his tent. Marinette put her backpack away as well, and Adrien carefully scoured the site for anything that could give him away. There wasn't much, partly because he hadn't brought a ton of stuff that could give him away at a glance and partly because he hadn't really been in the mood to sit around the campsite and mess around with the games on his phone.

"Thank you, Tikki, for reminding us that we have to be more careful with our personal belongings," Master Fu commented. "I'm not sure of how we'll deal with personal backpacks on the trail, particularly the personalized and fancy ones, but we can figure that out later."

"Well, I'll be getting a new bag as soon as we get back," Chloe said immediately. She pointed at her backpack, sitting next to her tent. While it had started out clean, the dust from the trail had darkened it a bit, and there was a stain on one corner. "This is an old one. It's dreadfully out of style, I can't be seen with it."

"Mine is fairly generic," Nino said, shrugging. "So I can store other people's water and food during the day, if needed. There's hundreds of other students in Paris with this backpack, and I'll probably get a new one next school year."

"This backpack only comes out for trips like this," Alya said, patting it. Adrien noticed that sure enough, it was a bit larger than Alya's normal school backpack. He hadn't really looked at it before. "It'll be my phone that's more of a giveaway."

"And my notebook, since I've stuck all sorts of decals on it," Nino added. "It'll help that we'll be transformed all the time, once we succeed."

Master Fu nodded. "Of course. But let's not put the cart before the horse here. We still need to try the spell."

The group nodded, doing one last check of the site before starting to head across the valley. Adrien's hand laced together with Marinette's, seeking just a bit of comfort.

Hope had started to well in his chest, and he was doing his best to tamp it down. There would no doubt be several rounds where someone would mess up and keep the spell from working, and his gut would drop with each one, worry that it was the spell and not someone's mistake keeping it from working welling up with each failure. His throat would get tighter with each failure, panic starting to rise.

He knew because that was what had happened the last time they tried the spell and it kept failing. It _sucked_.

And unfortunately, Adrien's prediction ended up being true.

"I'm ninety-nine percent certain that I used the wrong spell last time," Paon said as the light faded back after yet _another_ failed attempt. "Sorry, guys."

Queen Bee rolled her eyes, but Rena was Rouge grimacing, nodding. "Yeah, same. I think I went on autopilot and did the old version. Can we do a call-and-response practice of it before we go again?"

"Of course!"

Chat Noir exchanged a look with Ladybug. That actually sounded like a good idea, and he was surprised that they hadn't thought of it before. Maybe this time people would manage to get the right words in their spells, with the right pronunciation and everything, since they would have just heard and repeated it correctly. It was _bound_ to be better than people just slapping their hand to their forehead when they messed up and trying to remember the correct spell rather than _hearing_ it again.

"Okay, let's begin," Jade Turtle started, clapping his hands to catch their attention. "Ready? Repeat after me-"

Chat Noir joined in as they repeated after Jade Turtle, mostly because there was no point in _not_ doing that. Besides, maybe he was getting a bit off, too...

...and if he was just standing around, he would start worrying and he did _not_ need to be doing any more of that at this particular moment.

Ladybug's fingers wrapped around Chat Noir's arm and tightened, catching his attention. He startled and made to glance back at her, only to have his attention caught by the light glowing in the middle of the circle. It had gotten brighter, more compact, just like it did when they were reciting the spell.

As though the spell was _working_ , even in the call-and-response format.

And the two of them weren't the only ones who had noticed, as clear by the steadily decreasing number of voices repeating Jade Turtle's words. The light died back down, returning to normal.

But it _had_ been working. And they had noticed.

"Okay, from the top, we're going to do that again," Jade Turtle said, his eyes trained on the light. "Except this time, we _aren't_ going to get distracted. _Ignore_ what is going on in the middle of the circle."

"If you need to, just close your eyes," Lycaena chimed in. "Or keep them on Jade Turtle. We don't want to get distracted."

Queen Bee groaned. "Are you _kidding_ me? That's all it took? Some lame old call and response?"

"Let's not look a gift horse in the mouth," Jade Turtle told her. He quickly glanced around at the rest of the group. "Ready?"

They all nodded and re-formed their circle. Ladybug gave Chat Noir's hand a quick squeeze before stepping back into place, and he flashed her a grateful smile.

It would have been _so_ hard to do this on his own, without Ladybug's support. She kept him sane.

"Repeat after me!" Jade Turtle called again, bringing their fidgets and anxious shuffling to a halt. "Ready?"

And once again, they repeated after Jade Turtle, intense concentration written on all of their faces as they did their best to repeat after him as exactly as they could.

The column of light compacted further, tightening down into a distinctly human figure, then into a ball on the ground. It grew brighter, brighter, _brighter_ as they repeated the last section of the spell-

And then the light _exploded._


	15. Chapter 15

Emilie Agreste came to with a start. She gasped for a few seconds, as though she were just coming out of water after nearly too long under.

But that didn't make sense. She hadn't been swimming. She hadn't been anywhere _near_ water. She wasn't even wet. Her last memory had been of herself and Gabriel exploring the temple ruins they had found after so many years of searching, looking for the missing Miraculous so they could return them to her old friend's family and maybe persuade the Rat to drop his threats against their family. She had been in front of her husband, leading the way into the ruins of the second-largest- or perhaps it had been the largest- temple. There had been a flash of light, and then...

_Nothing._

Emilie gasped again, her eyes flying open as she shot upright. The first thing she spotted was the Rat, narrow-eyed and glaring at her. She screamed and scrambled frantically backwards as fast as she could, frantically trying to scrape together what little Mandarin she could remember in that moment into a coherent order so she could maybe explain that _this wasn't what he thought it was, honestly, she was just trying to help,_ but nothing was coming to her.

What had happened? Had she and Gabriel been attacked? Normally he would be right at her side if she had been injured- what had happened to him? Was he oka-

Emilie bumped into a pair of legs. Gasping, she twisted around and caught sight of blue, blue, blue.

The Peacock simply blinked down at her, looking somewhat bemused.

Emilie spun around again, and this time she spotted all of the other Miraculous holders gathered around her. There were eight in total- the Rat, the Peacock, the Butterfly, the Fox, the Bee, the Turtle, the Black Cat, and the Ladybug.

Gabriel was nowhere in sight. And on top of that- another thing to add on to the feeling of _wrong, wrong, wrong_ that was fast overwhelming her- it wasn't as cold as she remembered, and the ground around the temple ruins- there were flowers blooming, and the thick green grass indicated mid-summer.

She and Gabriel had been out in late spring. This was all _wrong_.

"Well, I think that worked nicely," the Turtle said, regarding Emilie closely. Despite being the shortest of the group by far, her eyes were drawn to him. He radiated power and knowledge, even beyond her friend's grandfather.

And speaking of power and knowledge- Dorjee had mentioned something ages ago about the spells and magics that old Miraculous holders had learned. The Turtle looked like he would be the one most likely to know those kinds of things, which made him far more dangerous than the others. She would have to watch out for him.

Still, the Turtle didn't look angry or upset. In fact, all of the Miraculous holders (with the exception of the Rat), were regarding her with fairly inscrutable expression, not angry but not quite friendly, either.

And- oh, _god_. It hadn't quite registered before, but there was a Peacock and a Butterfly holder, even though those Miraculous had been missing. Had she somehow awakened ghosts? Was she being held in some sort of twisted dream world where the past holders that had been killed here were angry that she had disturbed them?

No, that didn't seem quite right, either. The holders definitely didn't all look like they came from the area, while all of the temple holders (according to Dorjee, at least) had. There were two blonds in the group, and that was enough to tell her that they were more likely _modern_ heroes.

 _Besides_ , those outfits by and large didn't scream 'traditional Guardians at a historic Tibetan temple'.

"What- what happened?" Emilie managed after a further few seconds of no one else saying anything. "And where's Gabriel?"

"You stumbled upon one of the magical traps protecting this place," the Turtle explained quickly, as though he had prepared his answer. "They're designed to capture and hold those who would wander in without a Miraculous."

A _trap?_ She hadn't been expecting that. Dorjee hadn't said anything about _traps_. "And what- how long was I there? I can tell it's been a few months, at least." Poor Gabriel and poor, _poor_ Adrien! Her son would be _frantic_ about her disappearance, and Gabriel probably hadn't given him any details- that was, if he hadn't been trapped as well. "Please, I have to get back to my family-"

"It's been a year," the Turtle told her, and Emilie froze. "Or, to be more precise, a year and a couple months."

Emilie's heart dropped into her stomach. _She had been trapped for over a year?_ Oh, _no_. Oh, no, no, no, no.

She never should have come. She never should have come up with the idea of finding the temple and recovering the Miraculous for her friend's family, as a gift for all of their help and support during her time in the country as a young adult. A year of her life lost wasn't worth it, not at all.

She had to get home as soon as physically possible.

"We came as soon as we were able," the Turtle continued, oblivious to Emilie's rising panic. "We didn't learn about your predicament until a couple of months ago, and then it took some time to put everything together."

Emilie just nodded mutely. She wasn't blaming them for the lost year, not in the slightest. That was all on her. And of course it probably took some time for Gabriel to find and contact one of the Miraculous holders, too. She just never should have come.

"But I'm sure that's enough for now." The Turtle smiled at her, though Emilie couldn't disagree more. _That's_ _ **enough**_ _? No, tell me what happened to Gabriel! Tell me anything you know about my son!_ "You must be worn out, and we've certainly had a long day as well. Paon, Rena, Queen Bee- why don't you all show Mrs. Agreste to our campsite? We can get an early dinner started right away. I want to do a bit more exploring, to see if there's anything else that should be recovered."

Several of the Miraculous holders nodded. The Butterfly holder extended a hand, pulling Emilie to her feet. The group of them- all of the Miraculous holders except the Turtle and the Ladybug and Black Cat, even though the Turtle _definitely_ hadn't named all of them- headed across the field, towards a grove of trees that Emilie had noticed when she and Gabriel had arrived in the valley. She had intended to check out what had appeared to be part of a very out-of-place fruit orchard once they were done with their mission, but, well...

Anyway, it seemed like she would get to look at it now.

The Peacock- _Paon_ , apparently- and the Fox ( _Rena_ ) led the way through the trees. Tucked between them and a cliff wall were a series of tents, all circled around a campfire ring. Hiking backpacks were pushed up against certain tents, and a _ridiculously_ large bag was set near the campfire.

...well, she supposed that one could carry a whole lot more if one was magically powered. Besides, she doubted that the superheroes had simply ordered a helicopter to drop them off most of the way out and then to pick them up on the way back, so they would have had to pack a lot. That was probably strictly a _Gabriel_ thing. Not everyone had the money to drop on such things, and they had already spent enough on plane tickets, no doubt.

She would have to reimburse them later, if she could.

They all settled down on the rocks and logs that had clearly been brought out to act as chairs. The Rat had finally stopped glaring at her, Emilie noticed, but she doubted that the decision to settled down on the seat furthest from her was an accident.

Granted, Emilie had to admit that she wouldn't be comfortable with him being any closer, even if he hadn't seemed overly aggressive yet. She still remembered the threats he had yelled after her and Gabriel, the threats that had driven them to up the security at the mansion far beyond what had ever been there before. Perhaps he now understood what their true intentions had been- that they hadn't been intending to raid the temple, just locate it and recover the Miraculous to help the old Rat achieve his dream- but Emilie knew that first impressions tended to be lasting, and she and Gabriel hadn't exactly left the best impression.

Besides, there was still something off. None of the Miraculous holders had answered any of her questions about her husband. That fact was setting her on edge, even more than she might normally be when stranded alone with a bunch of superpowered strangers. Her instincts were telling her that there was something very, _very_ wrong.

What had Gabriel _done?_ What had happened to him? What were they hiding? She could understand him not being there himself- secret identities were a _thing_ , after all, and they wouldn't want to haul an extra person along on such a long trip- but why couldn't they just say _oh, yes, your husband is in Paris, he'll be at the airport waiting for you when you return_?

While Emilie worried, Paon brought out a camp stove. The Butterfly fluttered around, pulling cans and boxes out of the large pack by the fire pit and handing them over. Rena pitched in, opening things up, and Queen Bee-

Well, it appeared that Queen Bee had taken off while Emilie was stewing in her own thoughts. She certainly wasn't sitting around the campsite anymore.

Over by ruins, the Turtle, Ladybug, and Black Cat were still standing together, talking about something. The two younger holders were standing with their heads quite close together, nearly brushing. They were definitely close, perhaps even a couple judging by the way their hands were twined together.

That was _cute_. Emilie _loved_ watching young romance.

There was the flutter of large wings beating the air and Queen Bee shot back into the campsite, carrying a bag of water and a filter pump. She set both down by the trio of people doing the cooking and then wandered off to perch on a rock daintily, examining the ends of her gloves as she did.

...well, Emilie could certainly guess where the _queen_ part of her name came from. It certainly looked like the Bee holder wasn't intending on doing any more work for the time being.

Emilie watched the trio cooking for a bit. She wanted to offer to help but, well...

She hadn't exactly done a whole lot of cooking ever since she married Gabriel (even their meals while hiking had been the premade and add-water-and-reheat kind), much less over a camp stove, and she wasn't quite comfortable enough around them yet to offer. It was better to sit back and watch, to try to learn more about them first.

Not their secret identities, obviously. But she wanted to know what kind of people they were, and know enough about them to be able to hold a conversation as they headed back to civilization.

Otherwise, it could be a _very_ long trip back to Paris.

But more than anything else, Emilie wanted to have some of her questions answered, and not just the question about what had happened to her husband. Last she had checked, there hadn't really been many Miraculous out and active in the world. There was the Rat, of course, and he (well, the _old_ Rat, Dorjee) had told her that there had to be a Turtle active as the Guardian of the Miraculous. But there hadn't been even a _whisper_ about other superheroes- Emilie had checked, and had checked rather thoroughly at that. So either they _had_ actually been active and were just supremely good at staying out of the public eye yet could all be rounded up in the span of a year, or something had happened.

Considering that last she knew the Butterfly and Peacock were lost and now they were very much found and active, Emilie was leaning towards the latter option.

_Seriously, what had happened?_

Emilie worried her lip as she watched the Miraculous holders, trying to figure _anything_ out based on their body language. She really should stop- all of the stylists that she had ever met had told her that it was an awful, _awful_ habit that would only result in chapped lips- but she figured that it was acceptable, just this once.

After all, she had been held in limbo for _over a year_ , her son had probably been left in the dark for that entire time, and the superheroes were clearly avoiding her questions about what had happened to her husband.

He couldn't be dead. _Surely_ he wasn't dead, killed in a hiking accident or something. Otherwise, how would the superheroes have found out about her being trapped?

Her gut told her that whatever it was, it wouldn't be good.

By the time the last three Miraculous holders rejoined the rest of the group, dinner was ready. Emilie politely hung back until Paon waved her forward, handing her a bowl and a fork. She glanced towards the others' bowls, trying to figure out how much they had taken before serving herself.

The rules of polite society applied here more than ever. She didn't know these people, but they held the power to help or harm her, and they held knowledge that she was _desperate_ to know. It was best to be cautious, to feel out how friendly they were or weren't. That meant put on her best friendly face, sit back and listen, and be helpful as much as she could. Try to make friends, to make connections, and hope that it would be enough.

Emilie had managed to win over and work with Audrey Bourgeois. After that, _anything_ should be a piece of cake.

At least, that was what she hoped.

 

* * *

 

Chat Noir was having trouble eating. It wasn't because he wasn't hungry or, like the night before, was nervous to the point that he felt ill and more than a little sick to his stomach.

No, it was because _his mom was there_ and _why was she staring at him?_ Did she _know?_

She couldn't. It was impossible. There was the glamour, and that would keep his identity secret unless there was too much similarity. Add in the fact that he was keeping his distance- both so as to reduce his temptation to run up to her and give her a huge hug, and to keep her from recognizing him- and there was no _way_ that she was somehow going to recognize him .

So why was she _staring?_

Ladybug shifted closer to him, adjusting herself so that she was between Chat Noir and Mrs. Agreste as though she could feel his unease. Chat Noir managed a smile at her before his eyes quickly flashed to his mom again,

She was glancing around the rest of the circle of Miraculous holders now, eyes bright and interested. Chat Noir could tell that she was feeling out the group, trying to figure out how friendly they would be and judging when it would be appropriate to ask about his father again.

He didn't know what they would tell her. He had been so worried about if they would actually be able to rescue his mom to really think about how she would react when she heard that his father had gone supervillain to try to get her back. There was no way to avoid mentioning that whole thing, and he didn't want to know how she would react.

His parents had always seemed to love each other, even as different as they could be sometimes. Now she had come back to a world where his father was in jail, and if she decided to stay with him, then Adrien would have to distance himself from _her_ , too. But what were the chances that she would actually up and decide to divorce him? _She_ hadn't been around for Mr. Agreste's cold, angry treatment, his rages, his neglect.

It figured that as soon as he got to stop worrying about if they would be able to rescue her, he would find something else to worry about.

"We're going to break the news to her tonight, once we've cleaned up," Jade Turtle told them, appearing at Chat Noir's side near the end of their meal. "There's no way that we're going to be able to push it off at all. Lycaena is going into the woods and detransforming, and then Nooroo can sense Mrs. Agreste's emotions and tell us how sincere she's being."

Chat Noir nodded. There was still that lingering worry that his mom was evil like his father- or at least had her morals twisted, like he had- and having an emotion-sensing kwami out and paying attention would make him feel a _lot_ better about her answers.

As long as she was sincere and _wasn't_ twisted, that was. If she was...

Well, it would be a long trip home, in that case. A _very_ long trip home, and then he would have to pretend not to know anything was wrong when they were together. _That_ would be endlessly difficult.

The end of dinner came too soon and not soon enough all at once. Lycaena collected their plates, piling them up for Rena and Paon to wash before vanishing into the woods. There was a flash of purple among the trees, far enough back that it didn't attract Mrs. Agreste's attention. A minute later, Ladybug caught sight of a flicker of movement in the trees and nudged Chat Noir, nodding towards it. It only took him a moment to notice Nooroo hiding behind the leaves, peering out at them all. Jade Turtle stepped closer to the tree and there was a blur of purple as Nooroo zipped into the shelter of his shell, close enough for Jade Turtle to hear the kwami's perspectives on Mrs. Agreste's emotions and yet out of sight.

"Okay, so I've gathered that whatever news you have for me probably isn't good," Mrs. Agreste started once they had all sat back down. "Otherwise you would just tell me right off the bat. So did someone get hurt? Did my husband die? Whatever you have to tell me, I can take it. It's just the wondering that's getting me."

Paon and Rena sat down next to Ladybug and Chat Noir as Jade Turtle nodded. "That's understandable. I can tell you right off the bat- no one died. No one was _permanently_ hurt. But we don't exactly have good news for you."

The look on Mrs. Agreste's face was a mix of relief and worry. "Okay."

Slowly, Jade Turtle told the story of the akuma attacks in Paris, clearly considering every word and trying to find the best way to tell the story. It didn't take long for Mrs. Agreste to catch on, covering her mouth with one hand and closing her eyes, shaking her head and mouthing _no_ over and over.

Chat Noir looked away. He hated seeing his mom looking so upset.

"We discovered Hawkmoth's identity a few months ago, and were able to prepare ourselves for a battle to retrieve his Miraculous," Jade Turtle finished. "We caught your husband untransformed and off guard and were able to contain him and recover the Butterfly Miraculous with only minor injuries on his part. We had gotten the Peacock back prior to that- that's quite a fun story, actually, if you want to hear it on the way back. We had also discovered what had happened to you at that point, so we got to start immediately making plans to come out and break the spell."

Mrs. Agreste stayed quiet for a minute, mutely shaking her head. Finally, though, she sighed and looked up. "I- first of all, thank you for rescuing me. It- it couldn't have been an easy journey out here, and you all have spent so much of your time already dealing with our family." She swallowed, clearly trying to compose herself. "And... as much as I want to say that what you're telling me can't be true- I don't _want_ it to be true- I... I have to admit, I can see it happening. It's not that hard to picture."

Chat Noir's head whipped up, and he _stared_. Had there been signs of his father's devolution into a supervillain? He hadn't seen them at all, not before his mom vanished. His parents had seemed as close as they had always been, at least in front of him.

Had it been different behind closed doors? Was his mom really _that_ good at hiding her emotions from him? She had always seemed like an open book to him, someone who wasn't shy about her feelings.

Maybe that was just the picture she wanted the world to see. After all, if people thought that her emotions would never be hidden, it would be easier to hide the small cracks in the facade.

"Some people are easily corrupted by power, it seems," his mom started, words coming slowly. "Too much success goes to their head, and they start thinking that they can get anything that they want if they just push and don't stop pushing. Gabriel was ambitious when I first met him, sure, but he treated others well enough, a least in front of me. I mean he was a bit brisk at times, but-" She broke off, shaking her head again. "He only really got snappy when someone properly deserved it. If someone made a mistake by accident, he would work with them to fix it. It was only when there were mistakes made out of carelessness that he would get angry at people."

Chat Noir frowned slightly. He couldn't remember his father being like that ever, but then again he could only remember his father as a popular, successful fashion designer heading a large, stable company, not the fledgling one he once had been.

"He got more successful, and there were fewer strikes allowed before someone was fired. Gabriel got pushier with the retailers and suppliers, but that was necessary to some extent to keep growing. He hired more workers, but they were required to make fewer mistakes. He became more successful... but he just wanted _more_. But I didn't think that it would cross over into his personal life. He was always so patient with me." Mrs. Agreste passed a hand over her face, rubbing her eyes. "And when I mentioned my plan to help the Dorjee recover the Miraculous Gabriel seemed so interested in the stories, but who wouldn't be? Magic is _fascinating_ to everyone, it seems. He put so much time and effort into helping me, and I thought that he was just being a kind husband, or that maybe the search was just his next big thing to conquer. Like, he managed to beat the odds and not only make it in fashion but also make it big, so what challenge could he do next? I should have suspected something."

Ladybug squeezed Chat Noir's hand comfortingly and he startled, realizing how engrossed he had gotten in his mom's words. Part of it was the _wow, she's really_ _ **here**_ thing, but he had been wondering for the past several months about what she had seen in his father and how the whole ordeal had gotten started. Hearing it explained now had really sucked him in, and he had started leaning forward in his seat unconsciously.

Chat Noir promptly readjusted his position, trying to not look _quite_ so desperate to hear his mom's story. The rest of the group stayed silent, letting Mrs. Agreste talk.

"We searched and searched, using the instructions that Dorjee told me, gradually adding more details where they were needed. It wasn't easy, and Gabriel came _so_ close to snapping so many times. He didn't always like the camping and hiking much. I suggested that we hire locals to help us continue the search, since we needed to be back in Paris for Gabriel's business and especially when Adrien was born, but Gabriel wouldn't hear of it. I thought it was because he was really into the search and it was _our_ thing, a time that we just spent solely with each other, and speeding it up would result in it being over sooner, but my guess now is that he just didn't want other people to hear about it and beat us to it, because he wanted the power for himself." Mrs. Agreste sniffed, wiping at her eyes. "Though I don't know what he would want to _do_ with superpowers if I were still with him. He _had_ to have known that I wouldn't stand for him misusing them."

Chat Noir chanced a glance towards Jade Turtle. Their mentor's face betrayed no emotion as he listened, but Chat could see Nooroo peeking out of his shell. Nooroo caught sight of Chat Noir looking and flashed him a small smile and nod.

His mom was being truthful, then. Chat Noir breathed in, and it felt as though a weight had lifted off of his chest. He only had _one_ evil parent after all, not two. He wouldn't have to worry about going home to live with someone who was hell-bent on becoming the next supervillain.

That actually made things _harder_ for him right away, though. Now that he knew that his mom wasn't the same kind of threat- and wouldn't _become_ the same kind of threat- that his father had been, Chat Noir wanted nothing more than to run forward and hug her for the first time in over a year.

But he _couldn't_. Secret identities had to stay secret for safety's sake. Besides, if he exposed _himself_ , he would give away most of the rest of the group, too.

"I just wanted to help Dorjee, since he was so kind, and- no, actually, I'm not going to lie and say that the thought of him maybe awarding us one of the missing Miraculous as a thanks hadn't crossed my mind. I don't know what we would _do_ with it- I'm not exactly a vigilante sort of person, and Gabriel certainly isn't, either- but I have to admit, it would have been pretty cool." A small smile flashed across Mrs. Agreste's face. "Though perhaps the responsibility that comes along with a Miraculous sort of negates the _cool_ factor."

Rena Rouge grinned. "Only a little bit. It's still pretty cool."

They all laughed. Mrs. Agreste smiled, just a little.

"So Gabriel is- where? In jail, I assume?" Mrs. Agreste asked after a minute. "And Adrien? Do you know where he is? Who's watching him? Is he all right?"

"Your husband is in jail," Jade Turtle confirmed. "He was recently sentenced- fifteen to twenty years, I believe."

"And Adrien?" Mrs. Agreste pressed. "Do you know what's happened with my son?"

"He's being looked after by Nathalie and his bodyguard," Jade Turtle assured Mrs. Agreste. "He was doing quite well with them, last I saw."

Mrs. Agreste looked relieved, and Chat Noir buried his face in Ladybug's hair so he wouldn't see and lose his struggle to _not_ just up and hug her. "Oh, thank _goodness_. I trust them to take good care of him. They've been with our family forever, and they're so loyal." She paused, weaving her fingers together anxiously. "And...how is he dealing with Gabriel's arrest? I don't know how close he and Gabriel ever were- Adrien always _was_ more of a momma's boy- but he _is_ Adrien's father."

"He has a good support system," Jade Turtle assured him. "Friends, adults who care about him."

For some reason, Mrs. Agreste looked supremely unconvinced at that. It took Chat Noir a minute to figure out _why_.

To the best of his mom's knowledge, his only _friends_ were Chloe, and _maybe_ vaguely the people on his basketball team and in fencing with him, though the term _friends_ could only ever-so-vaguely be applied to the latter groups. He only talked to those people when he was at fencing (or basketball), and only a little. And the only _adults_ that Adrien knew outside of his parents? The Gorilla, Nathalie, Mr. D'Arvengecourt, his basketball instructor, his piano and Mandarin teachers, and his photographer.

That did not a supportive network make. Thankfully Adrien had managed to make more friends at school, and they were _fabulous_. Then Marinette's parents had all but adopted him, helping him through what had been one of the most difficult periods of his life. There was no way to explain that now, though, so his mom would have to wonder about that until she talked to him at home.

Or until she talked to Nathalie, which might happen first. After all, she would have to coordinate her return home, since it would probably be hard for her to re-enter France without a passport and while she was listed as a missing person. Nathalie would be able to do something on her end to help with that, and would no doubt tell his mom about at least _some_ of the changes that had happened over the last year.

"So how long was your trip out?" Mrs. Agreste asked after a moment. "It's quite a distance from pretty much everything, isn't it?"

Jade Turtle nodded. "Yes, it is. We've been on the trail for- ah, two weeks, about? And there was a week of plane and car travel before that."

Mrs. Agreste's eyes grew large. "Tw- _two weeks?_ That's so long!"

Jade Turtle gave her a long look. "Your trips out didn't take that long, then?"

"No, _never_." Mrs. Agreste shook her head. "I mean, obviously we knew it was a long trip out, but we always only ever followed the instructions for a week at most and then marked down our endpoint on GPS. Then we had a private helicopter pick us up and then drop us off where we had stopped the next time." She frowned. "Could you not find the coordinates that we wrote down, or-? I mean, I know helicopters are expensive!" she added, cutting across herself. "But hiking for two weeks-!"

"We- well, we figured that something like that must have happened for you two to come out so often," Jade Turtle told her. "But we couldn't find any coordinates, and we were allowed to search the house and files _quite_ thoroughly. We ended up following the instructions in this journal." He held it up. "Though we _have_ been taking coordinates so that we can cut cross-country on the way back and trim some distance _and_ time off."

Mrs. Agreste frowned. "Gabriel didn't tell you where to find it? Did he know that you were heading out here? Surely he would have told you exactly where to find the information we needed."

Jade Turtle shook his head. "We told him. We made sure to tell him specifically, to really drive it in that he didn't _need_ to resort to supervillainry to get you back. But he heard that we had the journal and said that that was it as far as the information went."

A fierce scowl spread across Mrs. Agreste's face, and Chat Noir blinked. She looked ready to kill. "Oh, that _ass_. I'll bet I know _exactly_ what he was thinking. Making you take the long route instead of giving you all of the coordinates and the name and number of the helicopter company that we used- he must have decided to do it as one last bit of revenge against you for throwing him in jail. Which is _completely_ ridiculous, of course, since it's his own darn fault for becoming a _supervillain_."

...oh, his father didn't know _regret_ yet. It very much sounded like Gabriel was going to get a through chewing out as soon as Mrs. Agreste got back to Paris. If it weren't for the fact that he _still_ didn't want to see his father again, Adrien would tag along to the jail with his mom just to see the chewing-out.

"Well, at least we got here," Jade Turtle said, smiling at her. "And with our coordinates, we'll be able to get back even faster. Do you have any other pressing questions for us? If not, we should probably get to bed. We're going to have a _long_ day of travel ahead of us."


	16. Chapter 16

Nino- or, rather, Paon- sighed as he glanced around the dark ring of tents. Everyone else was fast asleep, with no sign of movement anywhere in the campsite.

Of course, that might have been just because he was there, guarding all of the tents and making sure that all of the secret identities stayed securely secret. It was impossible to know for sure, even if Nooroo had said that Mrs. Agreste had told the truth when she talked about not having any ill intentions with the Miraculous.

After all, curiosity could be a _hell_ of a drug. And even if Mrs. Agreste didn't _intend_ to look, it could be too easy for one person getting up for a midnight bathroom break to trigger several other people to get up for the same reason, leading to an accidental reveal. At best, Master Fu would be the one seen.

Worst-case scenario had Adrien accidentally running into his mom near their campfire ring when he was meant to be several countries away. _That_ was why they had decided to have someone guarding the camp every night, and since the volunteer would get to hike less, Paon had naturally offered to do the job.

The night guard position _also_ came with no set wake-up time, which was going to be _amazing_. As long as he didn't get accidentally launched out of Jade Turtle's shell at the speed of sound or something, he was _definitely_ getting the best deal out of all of them.

Sighing, Paon propped his chin against his elbow. He glanced around again to make sure that everything was quiet before letting his mind wander a bit.

According to Alya- Rena Rouge, he corrected himself; after all, even if he _was_ sleeping during most of the time that Mrs. Agreste was awake, it was better to be used to using their superhero names- the group had made really good progress that day. They had gone far enough that the Rat had bid them good-bye, heading back to his own home.

"If we keep going like this, we should be able to get back to the trailhead in less than a week," Rena had told him as they helped make dinner. "Which I think might be the plan."

That was good. Paon wasn't sure how much longer he could be both out of country and out of contact with his family before they started asking questions. The sooner they got back, the better.

Besides, he kinda really wanted to have some time to chill before school started up again. All of the walking they had been doing was hard on his joints or something.

He was starting to sound like an old man. Boy did he ever need that R&R before _that_ became permanent.

Paon let his thoughts wander towards Mr. Agreste and what his reaction would be to his wife's return. Obviously he would be happy about it- after all, the dude had gone full supervillain in order to save her- but he would probably feel pretty crummy about having turned into a complete jerk when he could have just asked politely for help and gotten his wife back without getting himself jailed. Add in Mrs. Agreste's clear disapproval of his actions and _hoo_ boy, Mr. Agreste was going to have _regrets_.

He deserved to feel crummy, in Paon's opinion. The dude had been a complete jerk to his own son and to everyone else in the city. Being kept away from properly being with his wife would just add another layer of punishment to his sentence- which, frankly, had been set far too short. In Paon's completely-not-expert opinion, there should have been one charge of domestic terrorism per akuma attack, instead of just one overall. There should have been child endangerment charges on top of that, and maybe some other stuff too. Mr. Agreste's lawyer had just been too good, and the judge had been too swayed by the _oh I just wanted my wife back_ sob story that he had put together.

Paon also wondered what would happen with Mrs. Agreste and Adrien. Both had cared about Mr. Agreste at some point, and maybe even still did. Adrien had shown no sign of wanting to reach out to his father in jail so far, but it had only been a couple months and the betrayal was still fresh. Mrs. Agreste had never had to put up with an akuma attack, though, and hadn't had to deal with Mr. Agreste's Extra Level Bullshittery, so it was possible that she might forgive Mr. Agreste for his crimes. If she did that, then Adrien would be left in a crummy position.

Paon didn't envy his friend, that was for sure. If Mrs. Agreste forgave her husband, then it would be likely that she would try to get Adrien to forgive him as well. And once Mr. Agreste was released from prison, then Adrien might not be able to visit his mom without seeing his former arch-nemesis.

And if Mrs. Agreste didn't forgive her husband at all... then what? Would Adrien have to put up with his father dogging his footsteps once he was released from jail, trying to get Adrien to pass a message on to his mom? Would they move away to escape the memories? Paon couldn't even imagine.

His gaze slid to Mrs. Agreste's tent. She had seemed taken aback- horrified, even- at what her husband had done, but she hadn't let on to what she was going to do about him once they got back to Paris. Maybe she hadn't decided yet.

Paon couldn't blame her. It couldn't be an easy decision.

The moon moved behind some clouds and someone started snoring lightly, the wheezy whistle almost completely covered up by the sounds of the night breeze. Paon resisted the urge to flop down on his back for a bit because if he did, he might fall asleep. Instead, he pulled out his fan to see of Duusu could maybe connect him to a few games so he could while the night away without dying of boredom again.

Much to his glee, there were indeed games hidden behind one of the icons on his fan-slash-communicator-slash-weapon-slash-adaptable electronic device thing. A nudging in his head prompted Paon to check one side of his fan and push a Very Specific Spot, and when he did, a cordless earbud popped out.

(Only one, but considering that Paon was supposed to be sorta-kinda keeping watch, it was probably better to keep one ear clear.)

_Sweet._

Paon popped the earbud in and opened Angry Birds. Duusu had altered the graphics a little bit so that the birds would look like peacocks, and Paon snickered.

Was he easily amused? Maybe. But really, who wouldn't find that at least a little bit funny?

At just past two in the morning, the sound of a zipper caught Paon's attention and he glanced up to see Sabine peeking out of her tent, only one eye visible.

"The coast is clear," Paon assured her, and Sabine nodded and popped out. She grabbed the bathroom-in-the-woods kit from where it sat on a rock and headed off into the woods, lighting the way with her flashlight. Nooroo floated out of the tent behind her but settled on Paon's shoulder instead of following.

That way, Sabine could have some privacy, but if anything happened then Nooroo would be nearby and more or less awake enough to respond- or at least Paon could wake him up. After all, Nooroo has already gone slack, relaxing on Paon's shoulder and practically already asleep.

It didn't take long for Sabine to return. She washed her hands in the basin of water that had been set out before coming over to retrieve a snoozing Nooroo from Paon's shoulder.

"Everything going all right?" Sabine asked, pausing by his side for a moment. "I know this isn't an ideal setup, but..."

"I'm fine," Paon assured her. "I can sleep anywhere, honest. I was the best choice for the job."

"Well, we certainly appreciate you doing it," Mrs. Cheng told him. She yawned. "But I'm going to go back to bed. I certainly need my rest to be able to keep up with Jade Turtle during the day."

Paon nodded. It really did take a lot of concentration to go super-fast in the suits, and getting distracted even for a moment by how fabulous his girlfriend looked in her skintight suit could lead to him falling behind and having to scramble to keep up. Mrs. Cheng didn't have _that_ distraction, obviously, but the point still stood. "Yeah. Good night."

Mrs. Cheng waved to him and then turned away, unzipping her tent and ducking inside. The tent was zipped back up, there was a rustle of sleeping bag being rearranged, and then Paon was on his own again.

This time, he played chess on his fan. It was a little difficult figuring out how to move the pieces at first, but he managed. Who he was playing Paon _also_ didn't know, but it was very possible that Duusu was the one manipulating the other player's pieces.

Closer to four, Adrien was the one to emerge from his and Marinette's tent, rumpled and shirtless, yawning widely. Paon wasn't sure if Adrien had just taken his shirt off because of the heat, or if Marinette had had a hand in the shirt's removal. He wasn't going to ask.

Adrien headed into the woods, and Paon caught Plagg as the cat kwami practically sleep-floated by. Plagg promptly curled up in his hand, snoring again. Paon tried not to laugh.

The kwamis, without fail, were all exhausted from the day-long transformations. Plagg, as the laziest anyway, took that as an excuse to sleep for every second of detransformation when he wasn't eating mushrooms and cheese. It would be interesting to see how Plagg functioned once they returned home.

It was entirely possible that Plagg would need to be temporarily parked at Marinette's house while he was out like a light recovering, just so Mrs. Agreste wouldn't accidentally stumble upon the snoozing god.

The rest of the night was quiet, and Paon was ready to faceplant into the ground by the time people started to emerge from their tents, already transformed. There was a bit of a kerfuffle in Adrien and Marinette's tent as they tried to find Plagg until Paon lobbed the still-sleeping kwami in their direction. Plagg woke up mid-throw with a squawk of alarm, phasing through the tent and out of sight.

"Plagg said that he's going to kill you later," Chat Noir told Paon when he emerged from the tent several minutes late, looking a bit ruffled. "He says that gods are not meant to be thrown around."

Paon just shrugged and grinned.

It wasn't long before Emilie emerged, still yawning. None of them wore the same size clothing that she did, so she was in the same outfit as the day before, only more rumpled. Chat Noir looked slightly distressed as he watched her try to smooth out her clothes and detangle her hair, which made Paon suspect that he wasn't used to seeing his mother looking anything but immaculate.

Both Mrs. Agreste and Chat Noir looked grateful when Queen Bee offered up her comb to share.

(The non-magic comb, that was. Not the Bee Miraculous comb.)

Paon shoveled down breakfast- or was it dinner for him, technically?- and practically sleepwalked through clean-up. By the time he was piling his sleeping pad, bag, and pillow into Master Fu's shell, Paon just wanted to pass out.

And so he hopped in, pulled the sheet well over his head, and detransformed. Even with the warm, stuffy air under the sheet, Nino was asleep in moments.

 

* * *

 

If it weren't for the magic of the suit, Chat Noir's muscles would have been aching. As it was, his body was a bit numb, set on autopilot as he ran, jumped, and poled as fast as he could across the landscape, all day long. They only had a brief break for lunch, and then they were pushing forward again. There wasn't any time for talking- or, rather, if they even tried talking, it would distract them enough that they wouldn't be able to keep up.

There really wasn't much to discuss anyway. They had all been there for absolutely everything that had happened in the past few weeks.

They were joined by Paon mid-afternoon, though he spent a good hour perched in Jade Turtle's shell before he woke up enough to keep up with the rest of them. Once he took to the air, Lycaena flew forward and hung onto the back of Jade Turtle's shell so that he could pull her along while she struck up a conversation with Mrs. Agreste.

It wasn't anywhere near as enjoyable as the trip out had been, but it _would_ be faster. They were apparently aiming to cut their heading-out time in half, not counting rain days or the side trip to the Rats' house.

And Chat Noir could see it happening. They were going full-out, all the time. They were cutting cross-country, ignoring the path winding along the easiest hiking route in favor of the shortest route.

Well, shortest without it being _too_ difficult. They weren't going to go over extra mountain passes or anything. That would just slow them down enough for the shorter distance to not be worth it.

At least the concentration required to keep up their speed kept his mind from wandering too much. Then by the time they stopped for the night, he would be exhausted enough that he wasn't up for conversation and could go to bed pretty much right after dinner. Most of the group did, actually- well, with the exception of Paon, who was going to be sitting guard every night to make sure that there were no accidental midnight reveals- but it gave them a good excuse to _not_ get sucked into conversation with his mom.

It would be all too easy for him to forget to check himself and let something slip that she might recognize, so it was better to keep his distance. Ladybug copied him, sticking to his side like glue.

She had told him that if he wanted to talk to his mom, she would stay with him and make sure that he didn't get carried away and say anything incriminating. If he wanted to keep his distance until they got back to Paris, then she would keep him company while Mrs. Agreste and Queen Bee talked fashion.

"Hey, we're coming up on a lake!" Ladybug called in his ear. Chat Noir blinked back out of his thoughts and refocused on the landscape. Sure enough, another large lake was fast approaching. "Let's speed up a bit so I can snag our wakeboard out of the shell before we hit it!"

"Your wish is my command, my Lady!" Chat Noir dug in with a bit more force, slowly gaining on the rest of the group. "We're going to have _such_ a pile of Lucky Charms by the end of the trip. The wakeboard, the umbrella, my mom's coat..."

"I'm going to ask Tikki tonight about Lucky Charming your mom a new outfit," Ladybug told him. "Or two. And a bathroom kit, because she looked so uncomfortable with using her finger to brush her teeth this morning. She'll have to really recharge, but I think it'll be worth it."

Chat Noir had to stop himself from coming to a screeching halt just to kiss Ladybug. He had noticed the same things- his mom hated wearing the same outfits over and over and _definitely_ hated not being able to wash up properly- but he had assumed that she would just have to make do with what she had and what she could borrow from the rest of them. If they actually could do it entirely depended on if Tikki was willing to go through the extra work, but Tikki was as kind and giving as Ladybug herself was, so it was _very_ likely.

They passed up Rena Rouge and Paon as they reached the lake and Ladybug snagged the wakeboard from Jade Turtle's shell with a yo-yo. They landed at the water's edge and wasted no time in getting set up on the wakeboard. In no time at all they were flying across the water after the stuffed-full shell like seasoned pros, avoiding the wake that it was kicking up.

"Oh _man_ am I going to miss doing this once we get back to Paris!" Chat Noir yelled over the sound of wind and water. "I mean, I know we've only done it, like, three times, but _still!_ "

"There's the Seine, but we would have to dodge all sorts of boat traffic."

"We could do it!" They wouldn't be able to go as fast as they were going now- there _were_ speed limits on water traffic, and they had to respect those even as superheroes (when they weren't fighting supervillains, at least)- but it would still be pretty fun. "Maybe later in the summer, once we've had some time to sit back and relax."

Ladybug shifted her grip on her yo-yos and leaned back a little more, and they accelerated further. Chat Noir chanced a glance behind them and saw a _huge_ rooster's tail of spray flying up behind them.

 _So cool_.

"Are we trying to pass up the shell?" he called. "Because if we do, we're going to soak everyone in it."

Ladybug let out a little huff. "Aw, _man_. You know, if Mrs. Agreste weren't there, I would _totally_ zip right past for the _express_ purpose of doing just that."

Chat Noir barked out a laugh. "You've spent too much time around Plagg."

"Hey, it would make the day more interesting!"

They drew closer to the shell, then hung back a little to stay out of their spray and keep from passing them. Chat Noir grinned when he saw his mom turn around and spot them. She looked amused by their antics, which-

Well, she hadn't exactly had a _fabulous_ past couple days, what with the whole finding out that she had been missing for a year and in that time, her husband had been arrested for being a supervillain thing, plus the less-than-ideal clothing and washing-up situation, _and_ being subjected to Jade Turtle's somewhat maniacal driving. So if their antics could amuse her, well...

Chat Noir grinned and waved.

Their dismount onto dry land was _much_ better this time, with Ladybug slowing them down enough that Chat Noir's vault into the air was properly controlled. She reached down and pulled the wakeboard off in one fluid move before swinging it down to Rena Rouge to put back in the shell before she got out.

"You gotta take me out on this thing sometime!" Rena called up to them as she hopped out and started running. "It looks _fantastic!_ "

"Are you trying to steal my girlfriend away from me, Rena?" Chat Noir called back. "Because I'm not gonna let her go without a fight!"

He could almost _feel_ Ladybug rolling her eyes. "We can try the waterskiing with three people next time. There's no need for you to be a jealous tomcat."

"Mmm _rrrrrrrrrr_ er."

Ladybug laughed, loud and clear. "Have you been practicing your cat noises?"

Chat Noir just sniffed. "A cat never gives away his secrets."

The clouds over head blew away and the sky cleared as the group continued, pushing forwards as fast as they could go. They slowed and sped back up periodically as Rena and Paon needed to let up for a bit. Ladybug shifted on Chat Noir's back, adjusting her position as he shot them up into the air again. The bit of a grimace on her face told him that her legs had been cramping again after clinging to his back for so long.

It would be _really_ nice to just sit for a couple days once they got back to civilization again.

A rise flashed past, and then a low mountain pass that took all of Chat Noir's concentration to speed over without his pole slipping on loose rock. They finally tumbled out the other side of the pass and into the foothills as the sun dipped below the horizon, and then they stopped.

"I _hate_ loose rock so much," Rena Rouge groaned as she flopped down for a second. She popped back up after a couple seconds. "It makes running _so_ much harder. Thank goodness we can't sprain our ankles or anything in the suits."

"Never mind _spraining_ our ankles, I'm glad we can't _break_ them." Paon had sat down on a rock and was rolling his ankles. "I'm glad I didn't look down at all during that. I could just feel my ankles going all over the place."

"Guys, I know you want to rest, but we have to get camp set up and dinner prepped," Jade Turtle reminded them. "We have a tiny bit of daylight left, and we have to make the most of it."

Mrs. Agreste was already helping Jade Turtle pull a tent out of his bag. The rest of them took turns detransforming in the middle of the group to retrieve their backpacks before re-transforming. Their kwamis all looked _exhausted_ as they spiraled out of their Miraculous, but they didn't say a word about it as they had to go right back in less than a minute later.

"I feel so bad about that," Rena Rouge murmured as the group broke up, backpacking bags now in hand. "I'm going to bed early tonight. I might not go right to sleep, but Trixx needs the break. I'll just sit in my tent and chill for a bit."

"I think I'll do the same," Ladybug chimed in. She squeezed Chat Noir's hand. "Kitty?"

"If you're going to bed early, then I will, too," Chat Noir said immediately. "Plagg needs a break, too. He's more used to being transformed than Wayzz and Trixx are, but there's only so much that he can take. And- oh!" He remembered a conversation from earlier and snapped his fingers. "Have you had a chance to talk to Tikki about using a Lucky Charm?"

"Ooh, not yet." Ladybug shifted, and then her face brightened. "How about we get our tent set up, and then I can detransform in there and ask? We might need to get her bonus snacks for the extra de- and re-transformation, even before the Charm."

Chat Noir patted her arm. "I'm on it. Uh- unless you'd prefer that I help with the tent before anything else?"

"Yes, please."

Tents popped up all over their impromptu campsite in no time at all, and then Chat Noir dug out a few extra servings of sugar for Tikki while Ladybug got everything arranged inside of their tent. Jade Turtle gave him a bit of a side-eye at that, but, well, there was _plenty_ of Tikki's food left, even if the sugar cubes were getting a bit crumbly.

Marinette was flopped out on her sleeping bag when he ducked into the tent. Tikki was sprawled across her stomach but perked up when she saw the sugar in Chat Noir's hands.

"I can do everything you want in one Lucky Charm," Tikki told him, snatching up the largest sugar cube first. "Ladybug will just have to think of all of the things that she wants me to include. We've already thought of some things- a _full_ change of clothes or two, a toothbrush and other toiletries-"

"Definitely a comb and, y'know, deodorant," Chat Noir said, knowing how much of a difference just those small things would make for his mom. She would be _so_ much more comfortable if she could just freshen up a little. "Maybe some hair ties, if you can?"

"I definitely have extra hair ties in my bag," Marinette assured him. "So do Alya and Chloe. We can add those in after I summon my charm."

"Great!" Chat Noir settled down next to Marinette. "How soon do you think you could do that? I don't want to rush you, Tikki, but..."

"I can manage a short transformation and a Lucky Charm, but then I'll probably need a half hour after that before I can transform Marinette for the rest of the evening."

"We can manage dinner without Ladybug's help, I think," Chat Noir said immediately. "We can't fit all seven of us around the camp stove anyway. Not that we ever try."

"Okay, let's do this thing," Marinette said, calling Tikki over. " _Lucky Charm!_ "

Red light filled the tent and Chat Noir only narrowly missed getting hit over the head with a polka-dotted duffle bag. Ladybug caught it as she detransformed and immediately unzipped it, peering inside. Chat Noir waited as she shuffled through the bag, checking on what was in it. She finally looked up with a grin.

"Everything is there! It's, like, the perfect overnight bag."

"You're welcome," Tikki said tiredly, landing in Chat Noir's hand again. She practically inhaled the rest of the sugar he held. "Do you want to give that to your mom now, or...?"

Chat Noir glanced out of the small opening in the tent. His mom had moved over to join Lycaena and Jade Turtle in their impromptu kitchen area and was talking to them. She looked cheerful enough, but he was a bit worried that if he went over, she would try to strike up a conversation with him. That wasn't necessarily a problem in itself- he had no problems with his mom trying to be friendly- but Chat Noir was really, _really_ worried that he might let something slip that would give him away.

Sure, his friends hadn't figured him out during the school year, but he hadn't interacted with them as Chat Noir _that_ much and besides, civilian Adrien tended to keep to himself enough that any little details that could immediately give him away hadn't been shared. Sure, Marinette hadn't figured him out and she had been by his side all the time as Ladybug, but Ladybug and Chat Noir were careful about their personal details (and high-risk akuma battles weren't exactly the greatest "get-to-know-your-partner" time) and Marinette and Adrien hadn't exactly been _that_ close prior to the reveal. His mom actually knew him and knew him well, and they would be spending a decently large amount of time together until they got to the airport and went back to Paris. It was hard to know if she would pick up on any mannerisms that he wasn't even aware of doing.

"I think it can wait," Chat Noir decided. "Bugaboo, could you...?"

"I can give it to her," Marinette assured him right away, not even asking any questions. "Maybe at dinner. That'll be when Tikki is recharged enough to transform me again."

"I can wait with you." Chat Noir flopped down on his own sleeping bag and relaxed into it. Even if the Miraculous protected him from aches from all of the exercise and from injuries when he and Ladybug landed too hard, that didn't mean that he wasn't _exhausted_. The mental toll of keeping his speed up as high as they did was pretty high, and he just wanted to sleep, never mind dinner. But if he did that, he would probably wake up absolutely _ravenous_ partway through the night. "They have things under control, I think, and I don't really feel like getting up."

"I could use a break, honestly. But we can have a break when we get back to the start of the trail." Marinette had copied his position and her eyes had drifted shut. "It'll be nice. Of course, we get a couple days of sitting in, and then we'll be practically bouncing off the walls."

"I'll believe that when I see it." Chat Noir let his eyes close. "Mm. Don't let me fall asleep."

"That would require _me_ to not fall asleep."

He grinned. "Fair. Tikki-"

He peeked over. The red kwami was already asleep.

"Well, I'm sure someone will come over to wake us up," Marinette said. She pushed herself up to fully close the zipper on their tent and then flopped back down. "I know I said I would just go to the tent early tonight to give Tikki more time to rest, but honestly? I'm just going to go right to sleep."

All Chat Noir could do was nod absently.

The next thing he knew, Paon was shaking his ankle to wake him up. It was dark outside now, and the only light was from their normal set-up of flashlights around their little circle in the middle of the tents. His friend looked a bit amused as Chat Noir sat up, groaning. "We leave you guys for, like _five minutes_ and you fall right asleep."

"We were _tired_."

While Chat Noir headed over to serve up some food, to serve up his dinner, Ladybug made a beeline for Mrs. Agreste. His mom looked startled as Ladybug dropped the spotted duffle bag at her feet before heading over for the food. After a moment, she set her food aside to slowly unzip the bag. Chat Noir tried not to be _too_ obvious about his watching as his mom peered into the bag.

Her face positively lit up as she saw the contents of the Lucky Charm bag. "Oh, this is lovely! I have a change of clothes- _two_ changes of clothes- and a bathroom bag full of stuff and my own comb-!"

"We only thought to try Lucky Charming it today," Ladybug told her apologetically. "I mean, better late than never. Hopefully the clothes fit."

"It's wonderful!" Mrs. Agreste assured her. "I can't wait to unpack this all tonight."

Chat Noir grinned. His mom looked so happy with the bag, and her dinner sat forgotten by her side as she shuffled through the bag. Everything in the bag was Ladybug-patterned- it was a _lot_ of red and black polka dots, that was for sure- but it was good quality and sturdy. It would work well, which was the important part.

Dinner went by in a flash, and then the superheroes were pushing themselves up to go to bed. Chat Noir was ready to faceplant into a wall by the time Ladybug gave him a hand up, exhausted enough that even brushing his teeth sounded like too much work. Thankfully for his dental hygiene, though, Ladybug insisted on him actually following through on his nightly routine. They had just started heading towards an out-of-sight spot behind a rise in the hill to detransform and wash up when they heard Mrs. Agreste addressing Jade Turtle and Lycaena.

"Do their parents know that they're sharing a tent?" Mrs. Agreste asked, clearly talking about him and Ladybug, and Chat Noir froze. It was only Ladybug's tug on his hand that got him moving again. "They don't look old enough to be making those decisions for themselves, but they're _definitely_ old enough that it isn't appropriate. I know I wouldn't let my son share a tent with a girl he's not related to."

 _Oh boy._ They could _never_ let his mom find out about his (numerous) sleepovers at Marinette's house, in her room, in her bed. She would _not_ be happy.

She could also _never_ find out that he was Chat Noir, but that was another can of worms altogether.

"Oh, they know," Lycaena assured Mrs. Agreste cheerfully. "And they're fine with it. Ladybug and Chat Noir are responsible, after all. They've proved themselves."

Chat Noir chanced a glance backwards. His mom _still_ didn't look convinced. "Being responsible when hormones are involved and being responsible for fighting supervillains- or doing anything else, really- are two different things. I had a friend who I always thought was responsible, but she got pregnant before the end of lycée."

"It's hardly as though they're in a room on their own," Jade Turtle pointed out. "They're in a _tent_ , in the middle of all of our tents. And they _did_ get permission."

Lycaena nodded, glancing towards Ladybug. Chat Noir exchanged a look with his girlfriend. Technically, only she had gotten the go-ahead to share a tent (or her room) from her parents. Nathalie had been fine with him sleeping over at Marinette's house, too, and while he had no doubts that she knew that he was in Marinette's room (though perhaps she didn't suspect that he was also in Marinette's bed), she was also not actually his parent, just his temporary guardian.

"But it's hardly necessary," Mrs. Agreste continued to push. "I mean, Queen Bee and Ladybug could share, and Chat Noir could take the single tent-"

"We have our reasons for having the kids where they are," Jade Turtle said firmly. "And we trust them to behave."

"I wonder why she's asking about it _now_ ," Chat Noir said as he and Ladybug finally moved out of earshot. "I mean, it's been several nights since we freed her, and we've been sharing a tent all of those nights. And we gave her that bag tonight, so you would think that she wouldn't, like..."

"That might be why, though," Ladybug said. She glanced backwards to make sure that they were out of sight of the campsite and then detransformed, gesturing for him to do the same. "We gave her a gift, so she might feel more comfortable with us now, enough that she would question what might look like a oversight in supervision."

Adrien nodded. That made sense. He personally wouldn't have done it, but he had always been shier than his mom. "She's gone into Mom Mode. I bet she wouldn't if she knew that Lycaena was your mom." For all his mom knew right now, two adults were supervising five teens that weren't related to them or each other and so they might make decisions about what was or wasn't okay that they might not otherwise. "But I suppose it's safer not to tell her, just in case she sees your mom."

"If she saw that it was my mom, that would _still_ be a disaster." Marinette pulled her toothbrush out of her bathroom bag and squeezed some toothpaste onto it. "She would get back, meet me, meet my family, and then go _hey, if this person thought it was fine for Ladybug and Chat Noir to share a tent, she probably thinks it's fine if our kids do sleepovers_ and then we would be found out and in trouble."

"It would probably be safer if all three of us keep some distance," Adrien added, though he didn't exactly want to say it. It was getting progressively harder to be so close to his mom and not just behave like he normally would with her, and of course he didn't Lycaena to distance herself, either, since she and his mom seemed to be getting along even with the need for secrecy. But he could also see his mom not being hugely supportive of their relationship if she knew that Marinette's parents were so comfortable with them sharing a room overnight. "Or do you think that's not...?"

"My mom definitely needs to be careful about what she shares," Marinette said after spitting out a mouthful of toothbrush foam. "But we already knew that we have to be careful with detransforming and we don't spend that much time talking to your mom, so that doesn't change."

"It just seems like we need to do something _more_." Adrien didn't know what, exactly, but when they initially had decided that the Miraculous magic would do enough to protect them, he wasn't so sure that they had taken the whole _extended contact_ thing into consideration. "Something to make sure she doesn't get suspicious at all. I don't want her to end up suspecting something and not liking you as much as she should."

"Well, tomorrow is another day," Marinette reminded him, reaching out and squeezing his shoulder comfortingly. "We might just be tired and overthinking things. Let's go to bed, kitty."


	17. Chapter 17

It was pouring. Not sprinkling, not simply raining, but _pouring_.

There was no way they could go out today and continue their trip back. The kwamis would get sick for sure, and then they would _really_ be in trouble.

And to top it all off, their tarp was starting to leak, so they couldn't come out of their tents to hang out. Not unless they wanted to get drenched and risk the kwamis getting sick.

"We'll eat in the tents and then hang out there until the rain lets up," Jade Turtle told them as they all huddled under the least leaky part of the tarp that Paon had managed to string up by himself overnight. "That way, you don't have to be transformed and the kwamis can have a break. I'll come around again to give you any updates."

"Where should I be?" Paon asked. He yawned loudly. "I mean, I can sleep wherever, but somewhere that won't be loud would be best."

"You can be in my tent," Queen Bee volunteered unexpectedly. "I'll move my stuff out of the way and then hang out in Ladybug and Chat Noir's tent. I'm assuming that that's where we're going to be hanging out," she added. "Playing games and whatever. I don't want to be on my own all day. But I'm leaving if you two get all mushy," she said to Ladybug and Chat Noir.

Chat Noir only grinned. Ladybug sighed and rolled her eyes.

"I can sit with Emilie," Lycaena offered. "And then perhaps tomorrow I can spend part of the day under Paon's tarp once he gets up so that Nooroo can get a rest."

"That would work well," Jade Turtle agreed. "We could always switch off with the visiting with Mrs. Agreste, too, so that it isn't just one kwami missing the break."

Lycaena gave him a Look. "Wayzz needs a break more than Nooroo does. And I can tell that you need more sleep, too. You haven't been sleeping right since we left the valley."

Jade Turtle sighed and nodded. "Fair enough. Still, I'll check in with people later. Maybe we'll be able to salvage part of the day."

With a plan in place, the group broke up. Paon and Queen Bee headed over to her tent to move his things in and hers out- after all, Queen Bee didn't want her own precious gear used by someone else- while the other teens piled into Ladybug and Chat Noir's tent. It wasn't long before Paon was settled, Duusu was fed, and the rest of the teens were seated in Adrien and Marinette's tent, several rounds in to a game of Telestrations with their kwamis.

...it was perhaps not going as smoothly as planned.

"What the fresh hell is this meant to be?" Chloe demanded, staring at the drawing that Trixx had pushed her way. "I thought that gods were meant to be able to draw!"

Trixx bared his fangs. "I make illusions that are more realistic than anything you could _ever_ create. I'm just not as familiar with the medium of paper and pencil. And they aren't in my size, either."

"Just make your best guess, Queenie," Adrien said with a sigh as he scribbled down his own sentence. "We can change up the order of who sits where next round."

"Great! I call dibs to the right of Ma- uh, Ladybug!"

Adrien groaned. "Oh, come on."

"You can sit to her left, Loverboy." Chloe squinted at Trixx's drawing and then scribbled something down on the paper. "Then you can cuddle and I can actually be able to figure out what these drawings are supposed to be for once."

Trixx growled.

Their game continued, with plenty of groaning as they tried to figure out what a drawing was meant to be or as they tried to figure out how to best depict whatever phrase they had been handed. There were giggles aplenty as they read out the phrases that had resulted.

Chloe actually looked amused. Her earlier frustration at the game fled as each short phrase turned ridiculous.

"Okay, that's pretty fun," she admitted as the sheets of paper were turned over to use again. "I thought it would be really little kid-ish, but it's not at all."

"Little kid games can be fun too," Alya pointed out. "Not all of them, of course, but some. And of course it'll turn out differently depending on who you're playing with."

"It's too bad we don't have more people playing," Marinette said after another couple rounds. "Stuff would have more opportunity to go off the rails then."

"Well, there's the four of us, plus three kwamis. That's seven, and we go off pretty well just with that." Alya tapped her chin with her pencil and scribbled something down on her paper. "And once Paon wakes up, he and Duusu can join us. That's two more- three, if Plagg decides to join."

Plagg made a rude noise from where he was curled up on Adrien's sleeping bag. Adrien rolled his eyes. "I think that means he'll pass, because he's an ass."

"Do I really need to remind you who transforms you, kid?"

"Do I need to remind _you_ who feeds you?" Adrien shot back. Plagg squawked.

"I'll behave! Just don't make me play any stupid games!"

They played a couple more rounds, and then the kwamis decided to take advantage of the time off to nap and rest up a bit more. Adrien wasn't long to follow, with his head pillowed in Marinette's lap. That left the three girls awake- and admittedly bored, too, as they tried to not wake up the sleepers.

"I can't wait to have a _bed_ again," Chloe commented as they watched Adrien shift in his sleep. He had developed a _serious_ case of bedhead as he settled down in Marinette's lap and so now there were bits of blond hair sticking in every direction. "I like my sleeping pad, well enough, but it's not the same. And I wanna wash my sheets, too. They're _gross_. Normally the hotel staff wash my sheets at least once a week. More if it's been all hot and the air conditioning hasn't been working right."

"At least we had that day at the Rat's place to wash everything up." Alya sat back, leaning back on her hands and shoving her hair out of her face. "Washing stuff in streams wasn't really fun."

"It absolutely _destroyed_ my hands," Chloe complained immediately, holding them up. "I'm in _dire_ need of a mani-pedi and a visit to a stylist. Maybe a massage, too. It's going to take the rest of the summer for me to properly recover from this trip. I can probably get you guys in, too," she added after a short pause. "Because otherwise you'll have to go to the pool with ugly calluses on your feet. I _do_ have stuff to do an amateur mani-pedi on my own, but we just haven't had the time." She perked up. "Hey, maybe I could go get it! That would be _loads_ of fun. And I have plenty of supplies, since I haven't been able use it."

Alya and Marinette exchanged a look and silently agreed that it would be easiest to just agree to Chloe's plan. It wasn't like they really had much else to do, after all. "That sounds like fun, Chloe."

"I know, right? Aren't I smart?" Chloe practically preened. "Just wait a minute and I'll go grab my kit. Pollen, is the coast clear?"

Pollen poked her head up blearily and obediently zipped through the tent to check outside. She came back in almost immediately. "All good, Chloe!"

"Well, it'll kill the time," Marinette said quietly as Chloe dashed across the campsite to her tent, the hood of her sweatshirt pulled down to hide her face.

"Yeah, there's that." Alya glanced through the gaping entrance of the tent. "Though I _do_ have to wonder about her packing priorities. I thought you and Adrien checked on her packing to make sure she didn't pack anything weird."

"We _did,_ " Marinette said, trying not to laugh as Chloe emerged from her tent, triumphantly waving a case. "I think she made some unauthorized additions afterwards."

 

* * *

 

By the time the three girls had finished their mani-pedis, Adrien and the kwamis were all awake. Outside, the rain had lightened up. The roar of the rain against their tent had lightened during their impromptu spa session, turning into a light patter that was getting progressively quieter.

"It sounds like it's going to stop," Alya commented, glancing upwards as she squeezed a dollop of moisturizer onto her hands. "Which- well, we would go, right? If things dried out? We've never had a day where we started out with rain and then had it clear up later. It's always either been an entire day rained out, or the rain started in the afternoon."

"Maybe!" Marinette moved towards the tent flaps, then froze and sat back down. "Uh, Tikki, do you wanna check what the rain is like outside? It _sounds_ like it let up, but I'm curious to know what it _looks_ like. For all we know from in here, there could be another bunch coming through."

"Of course!" Tikki zipped through the tent and then returned a minute later. "It's getting lighter! And Jade Turtle is going around with sandwiches."

"Nice, I was starting to get hungry." Alya finished rubbing the moisturizer into her hands and passed the tube back to Chloe. "We can eat and then figure out what we're doing for the afternoon. I _really_ hope that we can go out again, because I'm really not interested in giving Adrien a mani-pedi just to fill up the time."

Adrien wriggled his toes at her. "Really? Can I convince you otherwise? My calluses are _insane_."

" _Gross._ " Chloe wrinkled her nose at him. "You _really_ need to work on your feet. They're all roughened up from fencing and basketball and all of those _awful_ sweaty sports. I can sign you up for an appointment when I'm signing up for mine."

"I'll...think about it."

"Knock, knock," Jade Turtle called, tapping at the outside of the tent. "Can I stick my head in?"

"Of course!" Alya scrambled over Chloe to unzip the zipper. "Ooh, sandwiches!"

Jade Turtle handed them in. "Yes, it gave me something to do while Wayzz napped once I finished resting up. But I didn't come just for this. As you can maybe hear, the rain is letting up. It'll stop completely soon."

Adrien shuffled closer. "Are we going to go out on the trail, then? Try to salvage part of the day?"

"Exactly. We can make some progress today, at least," Jade Turtle told them. "We'll only be able to go for a couple hours, but if we do that and have a cold dinner once it gets too dark to continue..."

They all nodded. Maybe it wouldn't be a _great_ deal of progress for the day, not like what they were used to, but at least it was progress. It would mean a couple fewer hours that they had to do on another day.

It was still dripping as they broke camp and loaded up, waking Paon up as they did. Emilie clambered into the shell and did her best to keep the rain off with the tarp and the superheroes ignored the drops that rolled off of their suits from the still-dripping clouds. They picked up the pace as they went, flying and running and poling as fast as they could.

Rena Rouge was the first to fall, landing wrong on an exposed bit of ground and skidding in the mud. She hit the ground with a yelp, and the others had to dodge to not hit her.

"I'll catch up," Rena called after them, pushing herself back up. Mud coated her rear and back. "I'm fine!"

Chat Noir and Ladybug went next, when Chat's pole slid out from under them on a steeper section of hill. Ladybug caught them with her yo-yo on the way down, so they managed to land on their feet instead of tumbling.

Paon slid to the ground. Rena fell again. Queen Bee flew higher above them, giving the mud-splattered superheroes a wary look as she brushed off her spotless outfit. Ladybug and Chat Noir landed hard in a puddle, sending water everywhere.

It was messy.

"I'll slow down," Jade Turtle called back the third time Rena Rouge hit the ground. "And perhaps you four would want to get in the shell?"

Mrs. Agreste looked less than convinced about that as she surveyed the mud-splattered superheroes, but she clearly wasn't about to say anything.

Paon sent back a too-wide grin and a double thumbs-up. "Cool on the slowing down! I think I'll keep my mud out of your shell, though. We don't want to wear out Wayzz by making him work harder."

"That is probably wise. We _do_ have several days left at least, and he's quite tired, even with the rest this morning." Jade Turtle turned back forward in time to dodge a rock. "Sorry, sorry."

Mrs. Agreste's knuckles had turned white against the shell.

They zipped through the foothills quickly, even with the slippage and slower speeds. The orange of Rena Rouge's costume and the blue of Paon's vanished under the mud and torn-up bits of vegetation, and Ladybug and Chat Noir were only faring moderately better.

Needless to say, they were _all_ very, very glad when Jade Turtle finally decided to call it for the day, a little earlier than usual since they just happened to be passing by a bubbling stream that would be perfect for refilling their water and for washing up.

"Well, we made progress," Ladybug said as they splashed in the stream, washing the mud off. "There's that, at least. Even if we got dirty in the process."

Chat Noir grinned and nodded. "Yeah! And even that wasn't so bad. I'm already clean." He splashed his way out of the water. "Not bad at all."

"Speak for yourself!" Rena Rouge complained. She was still scrubbing. "You and Ladybug landed on your feet every time. Of course you aren't that dirty. Me, I wiped out every time I landed on bare ground."

Paon nodded in agreement. There were streaks of mud still covering most of his suit. Some of the splatters reached as far as his mask. "I hope it dries out a bit overnight. If only a couple hours on the trail made us look like this, how bad would it be if an entire day's travel was in the same conditions?"

Rena Rouge looked horrified. "Oh, god. I would never get the mud out of my hair."

"And what if we didn't end up near a stream?"

"Oh, _god_."

"The real question is, would the mud still be on us if we detransformed before washing up?" Paon asked. He ducked underwater and scrubbed vigorously for a few seconds before coming back up, coughing. "Oh, that was _not_ a good idea."

"And if it was, would it go back on the suits when we transformed again?" Ladybug added, splashing out of the stream as well to join Chat Noir. "I don't think I want to find out. If it stayed on when we detransformed and _didn't_ just transfer back to the suit afterwards, that would be _awful_."

"When you're done, come help us set up!" Lycaena called. "And I have a towel for you guys to dry off, too."

"Hey, we'll actually be able to cook with some light for once," Ladybug said cheerfully, heading for her mom. "That'll be great. And if we go fast, we can grab the best spot for our tent. I think there was a rock under my side of the tent last night."

"Oh no! My Lady had to sleep on a rock? What a travesty! Her noble knight will sweep the ground clear tonight."

Ladybug swatted at her grinning boyfriend. "Oh, _god_. You don't need to do that. We just need to check the ground before putting the tent down, and it was too dusky for that last night." She gave the ground a somewhat unenthusiastic look. "And I'm just _really_ looking forward to having a bed again. Chloe was talking about it earlier while we were doing our mani-pedis, and _yeah_ , I can't wait. The hotel beds are going to be _paradise_ after this, and my bed at home? _Amazing._ I'll never leave it again. _"_

Chat Noir laughed.

It was easy enough for them to detransform and retrieve their bags in the privacy of a little copse of trees nearby, and then Chat Noir scouted out the best bit of ground- "Level and no rocks or lumps as requested, my Lady!"- for them to set up their tent.

"You're in a cheerful mood this afternoon," Ladybug said with a giggle as Chat Noir pounded the last stake into the ground. "You've been pretty quiet recently. I was getting worried."

"Well, I got to nap in the lap of a beautiful woman this morning." Chat Noir winked at her. "And we did a good amount of hiking today. Not too much, but we _did_ at least get somewhere."

Ladybug groaned and buried her face in her hands. "Oh no! I'm not used to full-flirt mode from you! I'm all out of practice with dealing with it!"

Chat Noir grinned. "Well, then, maybe I should keep going so you can build up your immunity again, then? Or maybe not, since I like seeing you blush."

"You are an absolute impossible flirt."

 

* * *

 

As it turned out, the one problem with ending the day a little early was that it meant that there was more time for sitting around waiting until they were tired enough to go to bed. It wouldn't have been an issue if it had just been the seven superheroes, but now they were scrambling for some topic of conversation to fill the time so that they weren't just left awkwardly staring at each other over the remains of their campfire.

A conversation about the landscape had fizzled out pretty quickly. Paon had made a couple stabs at talking about the weather before giving up with a wince. The majority of the group had groaned over Queen Bee's conversation topic of in-style sunglasses. Lycaena had clearly been about to try to bring up what Adrien had been up to for the past year- minus the superhero stuff, of course- before realizing that she wouldn't be able to say much without giving away that she knew Adrien personally.

And then Emilie decided to tell stories to fill the ensuing awkward silence. Which Chat Noir appreciated, he really did. Sitting in awkward, fidgety silence stunk, and it was _much_ better to have someone telling stories.

But did she _really_ have to try to fill the time by telling stories of when he was a baby?

It wouldn't be so bad if it was just Master Fu and Lycaena that were listening, even though they were his mentor and his (hopefully) future mother-in-law. They just smiled politely and chuckled when she shared stories about Small Adrien pulling off all of his clothes and trying to make a break for it during one of his mother's photoshoots, or when he accidentally broke a prop on set when she was shooting a movie. And the stories were funny, he was sure, but... his _friends_ were there, too.

It was like those embarrassing scenes in book and movies that Adrien had read about, where the main character brought home their significant other and their mom told the boyfriend or girlfriend about all of the embarrassing things that they had done. Only in this case, Adrien couldn't complain and whine _mooooom_ when she talked about having to redo shoots because there was a bare toddler bum visible in the background of the photos.

There were a _lot_ of those stories, too. Apparently he had been a particularly clothes-adverse toddler.

Chat Noir swallowed a groan as his mom kept talking, giggling as she gestured. His cheeks were flaming in utter embarrassment, but at least his mask and the lack of light hid most of it. He did his best to check out of the conversation, getting immersed in the sight of the last few small flickering flames among the dying embers. If he didn't listen, maybe he could pretend that he wasn't embarrassed out of his mind. He ended up so immersed that he startled when the entire group let out a loud laugh.

"-and I was just so shocked that I couldn't think of anything to say except " _what?_ ' and so then of course Adrien repeated himself word-for-word, all of those awful words coming from such an angelic little child." Mrs. Agreste giggled, and Chat Noir immediately recognized the story as one he had heard before, of when he had repeated another kid's cursing after a playdate. "I was mortified, of course, but the parents of the little monster that had been doing the swearing in the first place were even more embarrassed."

Lycaena giggled. "Oh, that is funny. I'm sure the kids got an earful once they were home. Did they ever swear again at the get-togethers?"

"No, and they moved shortly thereafter. For completely unrelated reasons," Mrs. Agreste added hastily. "And we never heard Adrien say a bad word after that, either. He knew that he wasn't supposed to and it wasn't polite."

"I swore plenty when they weren't in earshot," Chat Noir muttered in Ladybug's ear to distract her, careful to be quiet enough that no one else could hear. "Mostly when I fell off of my climbing wall or messed up when practicing the piano. They just never heard."

Ladybug tried not to laugh. "You're ruining your reputation as an innocent sunshine child."

Chat Noir grinned down at her, eyes twinkling impishly. "Really? You still think I'm innocent? After everything that we've been through?"

Ladybug swatted at his arm. She was grinning, though.

"At least she's moved on from all the naked little kid stories," Chat Noir commented quietly a few minutes later as Mrs. Agreste recounted the first time that Adrien had gone to dancing lessons and had decided to be a brat about it. "Those are embarrassing. Like, what was little kid me thinking?"

"Probably that he didn't like stuffy high-fashion playsuits and would much rather be comfortable." Ladybug wound her fingers around his arm, resting her cheek on his shoulder. "At least she doesn't have a photo album to show us of all of the Naked Toddler incidents."

"Nah, she's saving that part for when I introduce you as my girlfriend. I'm sure you'll get the full Nosy Mom experience then." Chat Noir kissed the top of her head. "And I'll die of mortification. Again."

His words had Ladybug squirming around to look at him. "Are you okay? We can probably change the topic and find something else to discuss if you're not comfortable with the baby stories."

"I'll survive," he assured her. After all, they had moved on from his clothes-shedding adventures, at least for the moment. "Besides, maybe now your mom will tell me funny stories about you as a kid to make it even."

"Silly kitty. I kept my clothes on when I was little." Ladybug grinned at his pout. "But I'm sure that I got up to plenty of trouble still."

"-and you should have seen the look on that little girl's face!" Mrs. Agreste was saying, a fond look on her face as she talked. "It was dreadfully rude, of course, and we had to talk to Adrien about being polite even if he didn't want to be, but I can't deny that it wasn't entirely his fault."

"Wait, what did you do?" Ladybug whispered, looking lost. "Why were you rude?"

Chat Noir sighed. "First dancing lesson, some girl decided that I was going to be her boyfriend and latched on. I tolerated it for one dance and then broke up with her. I believe the word 'leech' was involved. She was quite clingy."

Ladybug hastily muffled a snort.

"Okay, let's head for bed," Jade Turtle announced before Mrs. Agreste could launch into another story. "We'll have a long day tomorrow-"

"Just like always," Queen Bee cut in.

"-and we'll need our rest. If the Miraculous holders want to head over that way for brushing teeth and whatnot, please-"

The group dispersed, yawning as they did. Chat Noir had to force himself to walk instead of just staying seated where he had been and falling asleep there, head pillowed on top of Ladybug's.

"One of these times, I'm going to brush my teeth right after dinner so I can just use a tree and go right off to bed," he told Ladybug as they found a tree to detransform behind so that they could brush their teeth. "And then I can just go right to sleep."

Marinette giggled. "You've said that practically every night, and yet it hasn't happened. We're running out of time."

Adrien just shrugged. "We still have at least a couple nights left, right? I didn't keep track of how many days it took us to get out. I mean, I tried, but I lost track. And we really didn't go as fast at the start as we did later on, so it's hard to judge distances."

"We can ask Ma- er, Jade Turtle tomorrow. He's the one with the GPS, after all." Marinette pulled out her toothbrush and squeezed on a dollop of toothpaste. "I'm curious, too. I want to sleep in a bed again."

"We won't get to share a bed again once we get home." Adrien shoved his toothbrush in his mouth and talked around it. "Not unless my mom goes on a trip or something for a night and doesn't take me along."

"Or if you can convince her that you're sleeping over at Nino's house and then come over to mine instead."

"Your parents might object if they know that my mom isn't on board, though." Adrien spat out his toothpaste before sticking the brush back in his mouth again. "We might try to make a case for the sleepovers once she's been back for a bit. Or we could try for sleepovers with all four of us. That might work."

They took turns heading deeper into the trees to relieve themselves one last time before bed, and then headed back to the campsite. Mrs. Agreste had gotten back before them and was already in her tent, flashlight off. Paon signaled that the coast was clear and they all headed in, washing hands while Master Fu handed out food to their kwamis.

"Ahh, cheese," Plagg sighed dreamily when he was handed a chunk half the size of his head. "How I love thee! Delicious, wonderful cheese..."

Adrien couldn't help but notice that the other kwamis didn't practically do a song and dance routine when they got fed. He suspected that Plagg would be even more dramatic once they got back to Paris and he got his favorite cheeses again.

"Time for bed," Marinette reminded him quietly, and Adrien jolted as he was startled out of his absent-minded staring at his kwami. "Plagg will join us when he's done, just like he always does."

"Right, of course." Adrien gave himself a proper shake as they headed for their tent, conveniently located farthest from his mom's. "Sorry, just zoned out there for a bit."

"I figured. We're all tired right now." Marinette pulled him into the tent. "Summer vacation relaxing is going to feel so good after this."

"I'm going to have fencing and basketball practices to go to once I get back," Adrien commented around a yawn. "And piano, and photoshoots, and Mandarin. Though I suppose Mandarin won't be so bad, since I'll just be chatting with your mom instead of doing worksheets and conjugation exercises."

"And Nathalie might be able to come up with an excuse for you not doing summer photoshoots," Marinette pointed out. She pulled out her pajamas. "And for piano, you can just serenade your lovely girlfriend."

Adrien had to laugh as he quickly brushed out his hair. "Some of my serenades might be rather upbeat. Slow songs aren't quite as much fun to do."

"Even better." Marinette tugged off her shirt and replaced it with her pajama top before sliding into her sleeping bag to switch out her pants there. "I like upbeat music."

It didn't take long at all for them to finish getting ready for bed and turn off their flashlights. In the dark, Adrien could feel Marinette wriggle closer to him so that their sleeping bags were pressed up against each other. He reached out, pulling her flush against him and burying his face in her hair.

'Night, Kitty."

Adrien grinned, kissing the top of Marinette's head. "Good night, lovebug."


	18. Chapter 18

With the help of the superheroes, the trip back from the temple and Miraculous valley to the start of the trail was going past quickly, shortening the trip from weeks and weeks on the trail to a fraction of that time, closer to a single week. Emilie rode along with Jade Turtle and the hidden, sleeping Paon, unable to completely enjoy the scenery flashing by.

Even with as fast as they were going most of the time, it still wasn't fast enough. _Nothing_ could be. She had been away from her son for over a year, and even worse yet, Adrien had had to deal with his father going cold and distant before getting arrested for being a _supervillain_ of all things, all on his own.

Sure, maybe Nathalie and Gerald were still there, but they would be essentially useless for comfort. Nathalie was distant and often clinical and Gerald, well...

She was sure that he was a nice man, of course, but she had never heard him say _anything._

Emilie wondered what Adrien was like now. Had his father's attitude (or his arrest) changed him? Had her sweet little boy gone distant and cold and closed-off to protect himself? Had thinking that he was essentially going to be an _orphan_ affected who he was?

Emilie just wanted to be _home_. The sooner she got there, the sooner she could try to undo the damage that Gabriel had done.

She hoped that Adrien still trusted her. She would be _crushed_ if he didn't.

Emilie also couldn't wait to have proper conversations again with people who _weren't_ trying to hide things from her. The superheroes were friendly enough and willing to talk to her- well, for the most part- but they would just clam up if they got too close to any topic they deemed too revealing.

The exceptions were Chat Noir, who always kept his distance and had barely exchanged any words with her, and Ladybug, who had magicked up a couple fresh sets of clothes and a bathroom kit for Emilie and then kept her distance.

(Emilie really wasn't sure why they were staying so aloof with her, especially since they seemed so friendly and cheerful with the other Miraculous holders. Was it because she had commented on how inappropriate it was that the two of them were sharing a tent when they were clearly both teens, definitely not related, and didn't have any supervision in the tent? Or was it because of her husband's actions? Maybe it was because she knew for a fact that they were from Paris, whereas the others could easily have come from literally anywhere else in the country.)

She could understand the others not wanting to give out names or ages or where they lived or what school they went to because, well, secret identities. But not wanting to talk about their hobbies, or their interests in school, or what they did for fun- well, in Emilie's opinion, that was overdoing it, just a bit. After all, what were the chances that she would meet them in their civilian forms and have enough of a conversation with them to recognize the similarities? Even Lycaena and Queen Bee, who were the friendliest towards her, were close-mouthed about what they did besides superheroing.

All Lycaena let on was that she worked, but not what she did, and that she had at least one child, but didn't say anything about age or gender. Queen Bee let on even less about her personal, though Emilie had learned _quite_ a bit about her views on fashion.

Hopefully Emilie's group of friends wouldn't have turned their backs on her because of Gabriel's actions, because she was in _serious_ need of proper back-and-forth conversation.

"We're making quite good time," Jade Turtle commented, breaking Emilie out of her thoughts. "Our trail wound back and forth quite a lot, so as to go closer to different villages and avoid large lakes and whatnot. Going cross-country shaves off a _lot_ of distance."

Emilie nodded, glancing around out of the shell. Sometimes the scenery was vaguely familiar, like something she had once hiked through. Other times, like now, she suspected that they had gotten pretty far away from the trail.

It was _really_ hard to tell, especially now that they were getting closer to the start of the trail, where she hadn't been for over a decade. Maybe it was better if she didn't remember that part, though, since that had been back when she was young and idealistic and had a husband that she really, truly believed was good. Those memories were a bit painful to face now, especially since she was wondering how far back Gabriel's act had gone.

They had said that Gabriel had become a supervillain to obtain the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous. Together, they would grant a wish- but only at a price, an _equal exchange_. His wish would have been to have her back, or at least that was what he had told everyone.

What would his equal exchange have been? Would _Adrien_ have been the one taken away? He wouldn't have been able to predict what the outcome of his wish would be. Gabriel had been messing with magic that he couldn't control.

If _anything_ had happened to Adrien because of his wish, she would have turned Gabriel in to the authorities herself. He should have known that.

There was a stirring underneath the tarp behind them, and Emilie automatically shifted to face fully forward, keeping her back to the tarp. It sounded like Paon might get up soon, and she didn't want to compromise their efforts to keep all of the Miraculous holders' identities secret after they had _clearly_ gone to such lengths to keep her from finding out.

"We should be able to get back to the trailhead in the next couple of days," Jade Turtle told her after another bit of silence. "And then it's a three-day road trip back to Lhasa, where the airport is. We'll try to get you the earliest tickets out."

Emilie tried not to groan at _three-day road trip_. She had always just taken a private plane or helicopter from the airport to wherever she started her hike and while that wasn't exactly a super-short trip either, it wasn't _three days_. And then she knew from experience that the plane ride back to Paris was no short hop, either.

It was going to be a _long_ week, that was for sure.

 

* * *

 

The really nice thing about going back with the Miraculous holders was that no landscape seemed to faze them. Giant lakes? Queen Bee and Lycaena flew across, Paon and Rena Rouge hopped into Jade Turtle's shell to zip over, and Ladybug and Chat Noir pulled out their wakeboard and _whizzed_ over the water at truly terrifying speeds, sending up a fantastic plume of spray behind them. Sheer cliffs with only a little goat trail leading upwards? Chat Noir simply poled himself and the other three non-flyers up, the two proper flyers flew, and Jade Turtle steered his shell upwards at an alarming angle. A chasm, stretching kilometers across? Not a single problem. Sheer drop-offs? They seemed to have _fun_ going over those.

They slowed down only rarely, and even then they were going faster than Emilie could have ever dreamed anyone could go- well, without mechanical help, that was. Jade Turtle showed her the distance they had yet to go every night, and it was shrinking rapidly.

"Another good day's work," Jade Turtle announced, gesturing to the others before slowing to a stop in a meadow. "We did a good job today."

"You guys went _incredibly_ fast," Emilie agreed, smiling at them as she worked to unfold her legs and climb out of the shell. Paon was by her side in a second, offering a hand for her to steady herself on as she got out, shaky as blood rushed back into her long-asleep legs. She flashed a grateful smile at him- he was a young gentleman for sure- and did her best to take a couple steps forward. "It's truly impressive. I don't know how you do it."

"By making sacrifices to small gods," Paon joked, and Emilie gave a slightly uncertain smile as the group laughed. She had caught the occasional glimpse of small, multicolored, floating beings zipping around while the superheroes were detransformed in their tents and of course she had caught sight of the inexplicable food choices in their cooking bag, but _gods_ and _sacrifices_? Were they actually serious, or...?

It was really, _really_ hard to tell.

They worked like a well-oiled machine as they got their camp set up. Keeping out of her sight, they detransformed to get their supplies out and then transformed again. Tents went up, sleeping bags and pads and pillows went in, and food was pulled out. Water started to boil on the small stove, and Jade Turtle poured in some noodles. Emilie finally finished getting her own things arranged in her loaner tent (and a sad little pile it made, too) and headed out to see if she could help.

As usual, the superheroes had it well under control.

"I might take a bit of a walk, then," Emilie told the group. "Not far, of course, but I need to stretch my legs a bit. I've been sitting all day."

"I have a flashlight you can borrow in case you want to stay out that long," Rena Rouge said immediately. "Hold on, let me grab it-"

"And don't go _too_ far," Jade Turtle reminded her. "There _are_ wild animals out here."

Emilie shuddered, remembering one particular run-in that she and Gabriel had once had with the local wildlife. She was definitely in no hurry to repeat _that_ experience. "Of course. I'll make sure that I can see the camp at all times."

"Good. Have a nice walk!"

Once she had Rena's flashlight in hand, Emilie headed out. It wasn't dark _quite_ yet, so she didn't need to turn it on as she picked her way through the grass. She definitely had to watch her step- animal holes and broken-off bits of plants didn't exactly provide the best walking surface- but it was nice to be able to be by herself for a bit.

Besides, they _were_ in a truly stunning spot and Emilie wanted to properly appreciate it while she was there. After all, she wasn't going to return to Tibet again, she had already decided that. Her mission to find the temple had been completed- abet not the way she had intended- and so there was no need to come back again. There were bad memories here now anyway.

Maybe she could go on little hiking and camping trips with Adrien in the future, just closer to home. Emilie was sure that there were plenty of places in France that were gorgeous and fantastic for a bit of hiking, and it would be a lovely mother-son bonding activity. She wouldn't suggest it for this year, of course- she certainly had enough to sort out in Paris already, what with Gabriel's arrest and her own status as a missing person and of course the need to spend time with Adrien- but it was an idea for the future. Maybe they could go to a ski lodge or something this winter. That would give her enough time to catch up on stuff first.

It all depended on what Adrien wanted. Maybe she would end up spoiling him a bit, but surely he deserved it after the year that he had had.

A rabbit dashed through the grass in front of her and Emilie startled for a moment before watching it zig-zag away. She hadn't seen a whole lot of animals while traveling with the Miraculous holders, though perhaps that was because any sensible animal would no doubt flee at the sight of the flying, jumping, speeding group of superheroes, and they were going too fast to see any animals that were left.

Her thoughts turned back to what she had to do in Paris. Nathalie would no doubt be a huge help with all of the legal stuff closing her case as a missing person- and considering that Emilie would be there on person, it _should_ go well. Then there would be the bank and credit card companies to deal with, which would be more difficult. Figuring out where she stood with the company would come next, though again, Nathalie would no doubt take care of it. Then there would be the smaller things that had been messed up by her disappearance as well, and those would take up time and energy.

At least it had only been a year. While that had initially seemed like _forever_ , Emilie realized now that she could have been a _lot_ less lucky. If Gabriel had gotten sucked in as well, or if he had been killed on the trip back, or if the superheroes hadn't found out about her, it could have been _years_ before she got out.

Or, if they hadn't been able to figure out the spell (and she had heard about the troubles they had had with the translation from the code), it could have been _forever_. She would have been trapped until the spell eventually gave out, and then left to starve in the valley.

Emilie was fast learning not to think _too_ much about what-ifs. They were terrifying most of the time.

But a year? There was only so much that could change, right? Adrien would be a bit older, of course, and probably have another couple fencing trophies and be maybe a bit more wary of the world thanks to his father- and she would no doubt have to find a _seriously_ good therapist for him to see to help him deal with that- but she could probably catch up on what he had done over the past year pretty quickly.

At least Emilie _hoped_ so.

She headed across the meadow, occasionally glancing back towards the camp. A few minutes after she started, Emilie glanced back and was startled to see that Queen Bee had apparently detransformed, but she had donned a yellow hoodie and matching sun hat that hid her face from view. Jade Turtle had done the same, though his hoodie was oversized and clearly borrowed.

She would have to be sure to announce her presence when she headed back. Presumably they would decide to transform again to keep their identities safe, but they were just giving their powers a little rest.

The sun dipped lower and Emilie headed further out, relishing the feeling of proper exercise again. The next week or so- or was it less than that now?- wouldn't include a lot of chances for walking, she knew, so maybe she should be going out for a stroll every chance she could get.

She walked, circling around their campsite as far out as she could go and eventually turning her borrowed flashlight on once it grew dark enough. Another flash of light from the camp indicated that Lycaena had detransformed, quickly donning yet another hoodie and a wide-brimmed hat to hide her face. The hat had a purple ribbon on it and the hoodie itself looked to be a pale lavender in the light of the stove and flashlights, and Emilie wondered if all of the Miraculous users tended towards wardrobe choices that matched their superhero themes.

Not that she was exactly in a place to judge. Thanks to Ladybug's superpowers she had two extra outfits, but apparently Lucky Charms only came in red and black polka dots. When she wore the pants and the top together, it was...well, it was a _lot_. She would have to try to mix her outfits up a bit once they got to the hotel, because the polka-dotted top would go _splendidly_ with her black hiking pants and the polka-dot pants... well, they made comfy pajamas, at least.

Another circle around the campsite, and this time Emilie was startled by several more flashes of light as the three detransformed superheroes re-transformed.

"Dinner's ready!"

"Did you have a nice walk?" Jade Turtle asked politely as she re-joined the group. "You walk quite quickly, we noticed."

"Well, I knew I didn't have long." Emilie glanced towards the stove, where a somewhat plain-looking noodle dish waited. The variety in their food had been steadily dwindling over the past couple of days as their fresh ingredients were used up, and Emilie wondered if they would make it back before they were just down to plain noodles and rice. "It smells good."

Jade Turtle cracked a smile. "But I'm sure you're looking forward to getting home and having more familiar foods again."

"I- yes, but this is good as well," Emilie hastily assured him, not wanting to offend anyone. After all, she had pushed the boundaries _quite_ enough with the whole tent thing a few nights ago. Ladybug and Chat Noir had been even more distant than before ever since, and even Lycaena had edged away a little bit, it seemed. "It's camping. Considering how long you guys have been out, this food is great."

Jade Turtle laughed. "Yes, we were very lucky to be able to restock in the Rat's village. Otherwise, we would have been eating only this for the entire trip back."

Emilie let the superheroes serve up first before grabbing her own bowl. As usual, Ladybug and Chat Noir were off to the side, mostly on their own but close enough to occasionally exchange a few words with Rena Rouge and Paon. Queen Bee sat next to an open spot in the circle, and Emilie sat down next to her. She was no doubt going to get pulled into another conversation about fashion, but that was fine. That had been her life for over two decades, after all, ever since she got into modeling and dabbled in acting.

"So I don't know if we've really discussed it yet, but what are the current trends?" Emilie asked, figuring that she might as well get the conversation. "Do you know what- I don't know if you follow her at all, but Audrey Bourgeois? She's a fashion critic- are you okay, dear?"

Queen Bee had choked on her water and was coughing. She flashed a weak smile as Rena Rouge pounded on her back. "I'm fine!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, yeah." Queen Bee straightened regally. She really had that royal posture down to a T. If someone told Emilie that Queen Bee actually _was_ royalty, she would not be surprised at all. "But, uh. Yes! She's like, the fashion queen."

"Well, she has opinions about fashion, at least. Sometimes we have to agree to disagree about certain trends." Especially as of late. Audrey's taste had wandered off a bit, becoming bored with the more elegant trends that Emilie herself preferred. "But have you heard what she thinks this year's trends are?"

"Glitter."

Emilie practically choked. "G- _glitter?_ What?"

"And sparkles."

"Oh, she's gone off the rails. That's absolutely _insane_." Emilie had never been a huge fan of adornments like that. They had their place, sure- as accent bits on gowns or blouses- but they were overused.

Audrey had gone absolutely _bonkers_ in her quest to find new, exciting thing, apparently. Maybe Emilie could talk her back to appreciation of the classics before the newspapers and other fashion critics started calling Audrey washed-up and out-of-touch. As much as she hated how Audrey's attitude had gotten over the years- abandoning her family for the glitz and glamour of New York and only returning to Paris on rare occasions was absolutely _unacceptable_ \- she didn't want her old friend to crash and burn.

She had already lost Gabriel. She didn't want to lose another friend so quickly.

"Glitter is pretty," Queen Bee protested, looking a bit insulted. Maybe she was a big fan of Audrey's or something. "And it's new!"

"It was in in the mid-2000s, I think. With all of those teeny-boppy American music stars." Emilie had not been impressed then. She was not going to be impressed now. "I mean, I'll look at the pieces that she's referring to, but I think our tastes have diverged somewhat in recent years."

Queen Bee did not look impressed. Emilie wondered if she had maybe already bought some glittery clothing for her wardrobe on Audrey's suggestion and was now second guessing her choice. If that were the case, well...

Teens could get away with wearing glittery stuff. Adults...not so much.

As always, it didn't take long for them to finish dinner and wash up. Emilie headed to her tent, waving to Paon, who had taken up his normal post in the middle of the campsite. She slid into her sleeping bag and settled down, listening to the sounds of the night and the others going to bed around her.

Birds chirped. Wind rustled the leaves on the trees near them. The campfire crackled- and as much as she loved campfires, that smell had infused _everything_ at this point _._ Lycaena and Rena Rouge exchanged a few words as they settled down. Across the campsite, Ladybug laughed at something Chat Noir said. Another voice- a strange one, one that Emilie wasn't familiar with- was singing something. Emilie listened closer, and- okay, they seemed to be singing about cheese.

 _Strange_.

Surrounded by sounds both comforting and strange, Emilie snuggled down and let her eyes drift shut.

Hopefully they would be home soon. Emilie could not _wait_.

 

* * *

 

They had plunged into a large forest, one that stretched for as far as the eye could see. It surged upwards and dropped down over the rough landscape, occasionally interrupted by a lake or a small bit of rock jutting into the air. It was a _fantastic_ landscape for Ladybug to move around in, since the trees gave her yo-yos somewhere to latch onto. It was a less fantastic landscape for Jade Turtle, but that didn't seem to have deterred him at all.

Mrs. Agreste looked like she sincerely wished that they would go through a meadow again instead. Clearly she didn't _entirely_ trust Jade Turtle not to steer them into the trees.

"We're climbing a bit," Chat Noir commented as they swung into the air again. "It's hard to tell, since we're going up and down so much, but we're definitely headed up a bit."

"Cool!"

Even with the perfect weather, Ladybug could feel her energy starting to lag. They had been going for so long and so quickly, and sleeping on the ground... it had been nearly a month at this point, and it was starting to _really_ show. She had been lagging for the past few days, and now it was starting to become an effort to keep going.

But keep going she did. The yo-yos went out, hooked, and pulled her in a series of dips and arches. It had become a mindless routine at this point.

She was becoming an _actual_ robot.

"How much longer, do you think?" Chat Noir asked, shooting up in the air next to her. "I think we're getting pretty close. Like, maybe tomorrow? I remember going through a _ton_ of woods when we were on the way out, and they were kind of like these."

"Oh, I _hope_ so." She could get through another day, that was doable. Then a thought hit her. "What if we run into hikers on the trails again? I don't think that Wayzz can do the strength spell again. He was looking pretty tired last time I saw him. And we can't detransform with your mom right there."

"I think it maybe doesn't matter if people know that Miraculous holders are in the area if we're leaving. I'm not sure, though." Chat Noir glanced ahead at the speeding shell. "I'm sure Jade Turtle has a plan in mind, though."

Fling. Swing, retract the line and repeat. Adjust direction. Swing over and piggyback on Chat Noir when the trees got too short and thin to swing from, and jump back off when they got to another bunch of taller trees. They landed for a bit of a snack and to make sure that none of the superheroes were going to get dehydrated and then continued.

And continued, and continued, and continued.

"Are we setting up camp soon?" Queen Bee wanted to know. She glanced up towards the sky. "It looks like it's going to rain, and we're normally are done about now."

"Not today!" Jade Turtle looked cheerful as he glanced back over his shoulder. "I made a phone call earlier- my friends will be expecting us at the trailhead tonight!"

There were cheers all around.

"I didn't realize that we were that close," Ladybug said, slingshotting herself upwards and forward again with renewed energy. "I didn't recognize the area!"

"Indoor bathrooms!" Queen Bee cheered from up in the air. "Actual mattresses to sleep on- not tonight, but soon."

"Not hiking!" Paon fist-pumped. "I mean, it's gonna suck to be stuck in a car for three days, but my muscles aren't gonna care."

They plunged into proper forest, shortcutting through the trees and occasionally sprinting along a bit of deer trail. They flew over a campsite before they fully realized that it was there, making the site's occupants yell and scatter.

"Whoops," Jade Turtle yelled back to them once they had gotten properly past. "I didn't expect people to be there!"

"Maybe there wasn't enough light for them to get a good look at us," Queen Bee offered. "Or does it not matter if people know that we're here now?"

"Since we'll be gone from the area soon, it doesn't matter." Jade Turtle banked sharply around a curve. "But I doubt they actually recognized us for who we are. And by they get back to civilization to tell anyone that they saw something weird, we'll be at the airport. Or gone."

They hit a river, and Jade Turtle steered along it, skimming the surface of the water and sending up a plume of water. They all followed, speeding up with the open space.

And then the river vanished over the edge of the rock, roaring downwards.

"It's the waterfall!" Rena Rouge yelled in delight. "Can we take pictures? I know it's not great lighting, but my flute has amazing lighting options for pictures-"

Jade Turtle laughed, slowing the shell down as they went over the waterfall and landed down below. "Go right ahead. We can spare a few minutes."

The superheroes clustered around on the bridge, snapping photos with fans and yo-yos and flutes. Mrs. Agreste looked amused as she watched.

"We didn't stop to look at it on the way out," Paon explained as he handed over his fan so that she could take a picture of the entire group. "We got a glimpse at a distance, but we couldn't transform with everyone here and Jade Turtle was carrying a lot."

"It is quite a nice waterfall," Mrs. Agreste acknowledged. "I can see why they decided to make a hiking trail here." She waved Paon back towards the group and held the fan up to frame a shot. "Okay! One, two, three- _smile!_ And one more picture for good measure!"

"Thank you," Lycaena told Mrs. Agreste as the group broke up. "We hadn't really taken many group pictures on the trip, so it'll be nice to have that."

"It's the least I can do." Mrs. Agreste handed the fan back to Paon. "You guys saved me, after all."

"Okay, everyone, take one last picture and then we have to go!" Jade Turtle called, settling down in his shell again. "We're losing light fast and it'll take us longer to travel if we can't see where we're going!"

The younger Miraculous holders scrambled, snapping a couple more selfies and then rejoining the adults. Jade Turtle led the way, steering his shell off of the bridge and down the narrow, steep trail that led up to it. It wasn't long before he hit the main trail and sped up.

"Hey, proper trail!" Rena Rouge cheered as she jumped down the last bit of steep trail. She grinned as she ran over the mostly smooth surface of the main trail. "I don't have to worry about tripping over tree roots and random rocks!"

"Always a good thing." Lycaena laughed. "There might be some things still, though. Keep your eyes open, because it's easy to miss stuff in the dark."

"Oh, is it dark?" Chat Noir grinned at them smugly. "I hadn't even noticed."

"Me either," Rena Rouge piped up. "Night vision _rocks_."

Ladybug, who had decided to latch on to Chat Noir's back as soon as they got off of the bridge, only rolled her eyes at her partner's antics and gave him a light rap on the back of the neck in return for the wisecrack. Chat Noir laughed.

The sun finally dipped completely below the horizon, throwing them into even more complete darkness until Ladybug got the idea of flipping open her yo-yo to use the little flashlight on it. It wasn't terribly bright- similar to the flashlight on a cell phone- but it was better than nothing. Paon, Queen Bee, and Lycaena were quick to copy her, illuminating the trail in dim light. It wasn't long before their trail joined another and widened, the curves in the trail turning gentler.

It seemed like they sped up as they got to the final stretch of trail, Queen Bee shooting ahead of Jade Turtle with Ladybug and Chat Noir not far behind. Jade Turtle grinned and bore down on his shell just a bit harder to speed up as well, racing down the trail and narrowly avoiding trees and low-hanging branches.

For her part, Mrs. Agreste hunkered down in the back of the shell, protecting her head from stray branches with one arm while clinging to the edge of the shell with the other. She didn't look remotely comfortable, but at least she wasn't screaming or anything.

Queen Bee cheered as she reached the parking lot, making a beeline for the waiting cars. The rest of the group wasn't far behind, skidding to a stop. Their drivers grinned and waved, immediately going to the trunk of one of the cars and pulling out a cooler.

"Oh, thanks!" Chat Noir said happily as he was handed a wrap. He bit into it, humming happily. "Oh, this is so good."

"We can eat on the road," Jade Turtle reminded them when it looked like the superheroes were getting settled in to eat. "Everyone in, please. Actually, can I get some help getting the bags moved?"

Rena Rouge and Paon leapt to help, hauling backpacks out of the turtle shell and loading them into the cars. It didn't take long, and then Jade Turtle was shrinking his shell as far as he could before climbing into the car behind them.

"All right, time to go," Jade Turtle announced, snapping the car door shut. "Congratulations, team. It should all be smooth sailing from here."


	19. Chapter 19

Being cramped together in a car all day was... well, not a ton of fun.

At least most of them were transformed. They had gotten in to Tenzin's house late the previous night, with no time to shower and would no doubt smell of the trail and sweat if not for the odor-muffling abilities of their suits.

"I'm looking forward to the hotel tonight," Queen Bee said as they pulled out of their first rest stop of the day. The Miraculous holders had had to use and detransform in the family restroom, going one at a time. It slowed down the stop considerably. "Dibs on the shower first."

"I'm not sure that dibs works if the person you're sharing the room with is in the other car," Ladybug said with a laugh. "You'll be with Alya, right?"

"I assume so."

"We may require your assistance in getting flights booked right away," Jade Turtle told Queen Bee. "I know you're looking forward to showering, but making sure that we get the rest of our trip back to Paris set up is important."

Surprisingly, Queen Bee didn't argue. She only made a slight face before she nodded. "Okay. I'll find my wallet."

"We thank you."

The two cars zipped down the highway, over low hills and through straight stretches of road. Chat Noir wound his hand around Ladybug's, resting his head on her shoulder while they watched the scenery go by.

"We might try having the second car detransformed after lunch today," Jade Turtle said after another few minutes. "As long as the cars aren't driving side by side, we should be fine. And I know Wayzz desperately needs a break."

Ladybug nodded, thinking of the little turtle kwami. Wayzz had been looking a bit haggard the last few times that she had seen him, even with the veggies they plied him with and support from the other kwamis. "I can call Lycaena and get them in on the plan, so you can detransform."

Jade Turtle nodded. "An excellent plan! Please do."

It didn't take long for Ladybug to take the call and set up a plan with the others. The car with Mrs. Agreste in it would go behind the other. Both Jade Turtle and Queen Bee would detransform, as the members of the group who had spent the most time transformed. Ladybug and Chat Noir could choose to do the same, or they could stay transformed.

"Do we want to be serenaded by a cheese song? Because that's what's going to happen if Plagg comes out," Chat Noir said as their car passed the other one. "So if anyone was planning on sleeping, then I'll stay transformed."

Queen Bee groaned. "Great. Just what I needed first thing in the morning."

"We can always ask him to hold off on that until later in the day," Jade Turtle said. He said something to the driver in Mandarin and he nodded before blocking the side of his face with his hand. Jade Turtle detransformed in a flash of light, and Queen Bee wasn't far to follow.

"Just warn the driver if you two decide to detransform," Master Fu told them. "He has to briefly close his eyes so that he doesn't get blinded by the light."

Chat Noir looked to Ladybug. "Shall we free the cheese beast, my Lady?"

"Sure." Ladybug waited until they were on a long straight stretch of road and then signaled the driver. There were two "detransform me!"s in unison, and two more kwamis spiraled free.

"Ah, a break," Plagg said happily, curling up on top of Adrien's head. "Fantastic. Can someone pass me some cheese?"

Sighing, Adrien passed a small chunk up. "Just don't get any in my hair, all right?"

Plagg sniffed as he snatched the cheese. "I make no promises."

" _Plagg._ "

"You will be able to take a shower this evening, Adrien," Master Fu pointed out. "So, while it might be unpleasant, you will be able to wash any crumbs out."

"Still! It's gross!" Adrien gave his kwami the best stink eye he could manage. "I don't want to spend all night in the shower just because Plagg couldn't be a neat eater."

Plagg stuck his tongue out, just because he could.

Over in the other car, conversation had gone from "kind of stilted and one-sided" to "very stilted and one-sided". With Mrs. Agreste there, they couldn't discuss anything that would give them away.

And since they were two of Adrien's best friends and his girlfriend's mom, that covered most anything that they might talk about, since they were very likely to talk about the exact same things once they met Mrs. Agreste as themselves. Paon had tried talking about his favorite songs, since that was vague enough to not give himself away, but some of the songs had come out after Mrs. Agreste was trapped and the rest, well...

Mrs. Agreste had a bit of a different taste in music than he did.

"I'd say we could try to play that Telestrations game again, but there aren't enough of us in this car to make it funny and the other car is all detransformed," Rena Rouge said after a half-hearted round of "favorite food" had petered out. "Uh, what else can we do?"

"I Spy?" Paon offered weakly. "Uh, have the driver tell us stories and Mrs. Agreste can translate? Or Lycaena could."

"I can certainly try," Mrs. Agreste said, though she had perked up at the suggestion. "My Mandarin isn't perfect, of course, but it should do."

"I'd be interested in hearing about what life is like over here," Rena Rouge agreed. "Or about his family history, that's quite interesting as well."

"Oh, is he familiar with the temple?" Mrs. Agreste turned and asked Palijor a question. Her face lit up with interest when he responded, and Rena mouthed _nice one_ at Paon. They had gotten Mrs. Agreste included in something. Adrien would be happy.

"He says that his family had the Pig most recently," Mrs. Agreste reported. "And that before, they had had a couple ancestors with other Miraculous- oh, just one other," Mrs. Agreste corrected herself. "It got passed down until recently."

"Yeah, Jade Turtle took it back," Rena Rouge piped up. "Because they didn't need it here."

"And because Palijor has several kids, and he didn't want to have anyone claiming that he was playing favorites," Mrs. Agreste added after a short exchange. "Which I can understand. The culture is changing and it isn't the default for the eldest child- or eldest son, I suppose- to get the big inheritance anymore. And having more than one surviving kid complicates things."

"There's more of that that's not fair feeling when big items are up for grabs in big families," Rena Rouge chimed in. "My siblings were crazy jealous that I was going on a big trip this summer. I can't imagine how much they would whine if our parents had a magical item to give to just one of us."

"At least with the Rat, they knew that there was a responsibility attached to the Miraculous," Paon said. "And since a lot of the family didn't want to deal with the responsibility and with living out in the middle of nowhere, there wasn't that jealousy."

"That's one way to keep people from all clamoring over the Miraculous," Mrs. Agreste agreed. "It's a lovely area, but not an easy life out in the country."

They all nodded in agreement. They had all seen how limited things were out in the rural areas. There was no easy, quick way to get into a city, and it was hard to communicate with no cell phone coverage or internet. Winters would no doubt be really tough, too. Farming was a tough life, too, and it would likely be hard to meet someone to marry in such a small community.

For people who had grown up in a large city, that way of life- doing that for an extended period of time and not just a couple days- was pretty much inconceivable.

"He says that in his family, people took having the Miraculous seriously at first, but when there were no further threats then it was seen as more of having a magical pet," Mrs. Agreste reported after another quick exchange. "That, combined with his kwami's urging, led him to make the decision to return the Miraculous."

"I have to admire that," Rena Rouge said. "Like, I hate to admit it, but I would _hate_ to give up my kwami. I probably wouldn't. If I had Chat Noir's kwami, though..."

"He'd be easier to give up, I think," Paon agreed.

"He grows on you, though!" Lycaena protested. "He's a handful for sure, but he has his own sort of charm under the cheese obsession."

"Is he the one who sometimes sings at night?"

"That's the one."

"He _does_ seem like a character," Mrs. Agreste agreed, laughing. "And probably _very_ hard to keep secret. I can't imagine that any decent parent would miss a singing kwami."

Rena tried not to laugh. Glancing to the side, Paon and Lycaena seemed amused as well. Adrien was lucky that Plagg was only acting up now because he was bored and the kwami didn't behave like that at home. Mrs. Agreste was clearly going to be a _much_ more observant parent than her husband (not that _that_ was a high bar to reach or anything) and Plagg would have to work a little harder to fly under the radar.

"What was the Pig kwami like?" Lycaena asked, steering the conversation back on track. "I mean- I could ask, but..."

"Oh, I like getting the practice using my Mandarin." Mrs. Agreste turned to the driver and repeated the question in Mandarin. Palijor made a bit of a face, shrugging just slightly before answering. Mrs. Agreste nodded in understanding before twisting back to address the back seat.

"He said that the kwami was nice enough. He didn't spend that much time with it, though, because it tended to stay out of sight- out of habit, I suppose?- and then pretty soon after it was passed down to him, he and Tenzin decided to return their Miraculous to Jade Turtle. It's been many years since then."

"Oh, okay." Rena Rouge felt a bit disappointed in that. She wanted to know more about the other kwamis, darn it! The Rat's kwami had kept to himself for the part of the trip that they were together, just like its Chosen had, so she hadn't learned _anything_ there. "Were his kids disappointed that none of them would get a Miraculous?"

Another exchange of words, and Palijor shook his head. Mrs. Agreste nodded in understanding and turned back to them. "He didn't tell them about the Miraculous at all. The family tended to keep the kwami fairly hidden and he asked that his father not tell the grandkids anything. He'll tell them the stories of the temple in the future, but not mention how recently the Miraculous was given up."

"Oh, that's probably smart," Lycaena said. "My Miraculous is definitely going back when I get old. No passing down through the family there."

Rena Rouge tried not to snicker. Of _course_ the Butterfly wasn't going to get passed down. Lycaena only had one child, and she had had a miraculous of her own for _much_ longer.

"Maybe we can go back to the stories?" Paon suggested. "We kind of got derailed there pretty quickly."

"Of course, of course!" Mrs. Agreste turned back to Palijor, and they all settled in to listen. "Okay! So the first of his ancestors to go to the temple, many, many years ago..."

 

* * *

 

After lunch, the two cars did a quick shuffle, having Queen Bee switch with Lycaena so that Nooroo could have a break. Paon and Rena Rouge were sure that their kwamis would have liked a break as well, but Ladybug and Chat Noir weren't going to be going over to their car any time soon, and obviously poor Wayzz needed as much rest as he could get.

"Do Ladybug and Chat Noir not like me?" Mrs. Agreste asked anxiously as the two cars pulled out of the stop. "I can't help but notice that they've kept their distance. I mean, I'm not entirely surprised since Gabriel must have inconvenienced them quite a bit with his akumas and now they've given up part of their summer to help save me, but... have I offended them?"

"I think that they're just really looking forward to being normal civilians again for a while," Rena Rouge said hastily. She could understand why Mrs. Agreste would think that, but she doubted that Ladybug and Chat Noir _wanted_ that to be her impression of them. "And they can detransform in that car, and of course their kwamis have been working the hardest over the last year. They need the break more than ours do."

Mrs. Agreste didn't look convinced.

"They like talking about what they're going to do with the rest of their summer," Paon chimed in quickly. "What's left of it, I mean. To remind themselves that they can be normal again. They've gotten tired of having to police what they say so much. They've had to do it all year, with all of their interviews with reporters and whatnot and just talking to people in general."

"I can understand that, I suppose," Mrs. Agreste said. "But really, is it necessary to be so secretive? What are the chances that I would actually know them? Or you guys, I suppose."

There was a muffled snort-cough from the front, and they all glanced forward to see Queen Bee covering her mouth. She looked mightily unimpressed by the attention.

"Sorry," she said, not sounding particularly sorry at all. "Water went down the wrong way."

"Are you okay now?"

"Just fine." Queen Bee brushed off the completely dry front of her suit. "It surprised me, that's all."

"I see."

"So, we were listening to some of the old stories from Palijor's family before the stop," Paon said, perhaps a bit too loudly in his haste to change the subject to literally anything else. "They were pretty interesting. Maybe we can listen to more?"

"I'll ask," Mrs. Agreste told them. "It's a good way to include the drivers, too. We were hearing about what his ancestors did with their Miraculous, dear," she added to Queen Bee. "They had the Pig."

Queen Bee wrinkled her nose. "A _pig?_ Ew." She yelped. "Ow!"

Rena Rouge and Paon snickered. Apparently Pollen could actually pay attention to what her holder was saying while transformed, at least a bit.

"A pig-shaped kwami, dear, not a farm hog."

"Oh." Queen Bee considered that. "I _suppose_ that could be cute."

"So do you want to hear about that, to help pass the time?"

Queen Bee thought about it. "I guess that could be cool."

Over in the other car, they were already enjoying a _much_ different form of entertainment, courtesy of one recently-fed kwami.

"Cheese! Some cheese! Some tasty cheese! Someone, get me some Provolone!"

"I suddenly regret taking this car," Sabine said with a laugh, glancing across the backseat to where Plagg was dancing around. "I'm all for music, but this is, uh..."

"Quality entertainment?" Plagg supplied, still spinning around. "A fantastic ode to the magic that is cheese? The best thing you've ever heard?"

"Not _quite_ what I was going to say, but sure," Sabine sighed. "If that's what makes you happy."

"He's been doing this all day," Adrien said, sounding exasperated. "He's excited to get into town, because Master Fu said that we would be stopping by a store and picking up more supplies. Which means fresh cheese, apparently."

"Yes, it was a mistake," Master Fu admitted. "I should have kept it a secret. But we had to discuss plans. We've been trying to decide how far we want to get each day, or if we can shave a day off by driving overnight."

"Not tonight," Sabine said immediately. "We're all too tired, and I think there'll be a riot if people don't get to sleep in a bed tonight. We need to stock up on groceries. People want to shower."

"I think it entirely depends on when there are flights available," Tikki pointed out. "If there's nothing for a few days, there's no point in hurrying. If we can get a flight in two days, then we need to hurry."

"And we can check on that and get tickets tonight, at the hotel," Sabine finished. "I'd prefer to get home sooner, but if it's easier on the drivers, we can adjust that."

"I'd also prefer to get everyone home sooner. The longer we're together, the more likely it is that something will happen and someone's identity will be compromised. And if one is compromised, that means that all of us are at risk. That was the main problem with me selecting people that are close to Adrien."

Sabine nodded, glancing back at Adrien. She was of the opinion that it was better for them to have taken that risk in the long run, really. Adrien had needed the support on their trip, even if he had done his best to put on a brave face. There was also the fact that their current group was properly motivated to get the spell to work on the first try, whereas there might be others who... well, who might want to do what Mr. and Mrs. Agreste had done, where their route got figured out over the course of several smaller trips rather than one large one. It would have taken longer that way, which easily could have impacted Adrien's performance at school.

There was also the fact that it just felt better to have familiar faces along with them on the trip. Sabine thought that Master Fu had chosen well.

Plagg had started singing again in the back seat, and Sabine did her best to ignore it and focus on the conversation. "So basically the plans are a bit up in the air and subject to change right now, but we just want to get back to Paris as soon as possible."

Master Fu made a bit of a face. "That's about as far as we've gotten with the planning, yes."

"So we need to figure that out as soon as we get to the hotel, so that people can be prepared." Sabine had to raise her voice as Plagg swung into the chorus of his song. "Do both drivers know about the potential driving overnight thing?"

"Yes, I ran it by them over lunch. They're fine with it. I think they're eager to have the trip over and their cars back."

Sabine could understand that. Road trips weren't fun, even when the driver and all of the passengers could actually communicate and when there were no singing, dancing kwamis in the back seat.

How Plagg had managed to come up with cheese-related lyrics to the tune of _Somewhere Over the Rainbow_ , Sabine did not know. Nor did she particularly _want_ to know. It wasn't exactly a crowning achievement or anything.

When it became clear that there wasn't much more conversation happening, Tenzin reached over and turned the radio on, drowning out Plagg's warbling. It stayed on for the rest of the afternoon, and eventually Plagg attempted to add his cheese-related lyrics to the unfamiliar music before his silence was bought with a large chunk of Cheddar.

The silence was _very_ much appreciated.

They pulled off into a hotel parking lot before the sun even set. All of the younger Miraculous holders and Mrs. Agreste blinked in confusion and then turned to Master Fu and their respective drivers for clarification.

"The next city is far enough away that it would be difficult to get there and get everything done that we need to do," Master Fu explained. "We need to get plane tickets and Mrs. Agreste needs to call home and get her passport sorted out, and we need to be at a hotel in a larger city such as this one to do that. Otherwise we would keep going and then camp next to the road once it gets dark."

"Oh, okay." Adrien glanced towards the other car, which was parked a bit behind them so that Mrs. Agreste couldn't see into their car. "So, uh, how are we going to do this? Who is going in first? I assume that we don't want the locals to pick up on the fact that Miraculous holders are here."

"Well, Queen Bee will have to come over to our car and detransform. She and our drivers will go in and get our rooms. Palijor and Tenzin will lead Mrs. Agreste to her room, and then we can all detransform and go in safely. We'll try to get her and maybe Palijor and Tenzin on a different floor from us." Master Fu waved the drivers over and repeated the plan to them. "Queen Bee should wear a hoodie. That way, she can hide her hair. Is her bag in this car, or the other one?"

"In ours, and hers is the top bag, but if we turn around we might be visible from the other car." Adrien glanced backwards and then ducked down in his seat. "Should we transform again? I don't want to attract a ton of attention with lights going off in our cars."

"No, Tenzin can find it." Master Fu turned back to Tenzin and asked, and the driver immediately nodded, popping the trunk and hopping out of the car. "I'm not sure how to get around the lights problem, though."

"I have an idea," Sabine spoke up. "Our car can drive to the grocery store and pick up what we need once the drivers return, so that there won't be any accidental reveals from her glancing over here. And once Mrs. Agreste gets into the hotel and situated, the other car can go on a short drive around town and Paon and Rena can detransform under a towel or something to muffle the flash. It's unlikely that anyone would be curious enough to follow the car back to the hotel."

Master Fu laughed. "It's a bit like a spy movie now. But I think that's very smart. We can get our errands done and try to make sure that no one is paying us any attention all at once. We'll be less obvious that way, too."

Tenzin interrupted with a shout of victory and they turned around to see him holding Chloe's yellow hoodie. He hurried towards the other car and handed it to Queen Bee, gesturing for her to put it on and follow him. Thankfully, Queen Bee seemed to catch on and she pulled it on before hopping out of the car, even remembering to grab her backpack, which held her wallet.

"Detransform in here," Master Fu called through the open driver's door. "Then pull your hood up and you can go get rooms. Come, come, and we'll tell you the plan."

It took no time at all to get Chloe caught up and then they watched as the she vanished into the hotel with their two drivers. There were a few other people milling around the lot, but they paid the foreigners no attention.

The clerk in the lobby might raise a brow at a blond teenage girl getting six rooms for the night, but hopefully they would forget about it soon enough.

The rest of their plan got pulled off just as flawlessly. They got their errands done and the last members of their group detransformed as inconspicuously as possible before returning to the hotel and getting settled in, all without getting any unwanted attention.

The group had opted to stay in their rooms as much as possible, just so Mrs. Agreste wouldn't step out and run into any of them. Alya, Nino, Adrien and Marinette had all holed themselves up in one of the rooms, watching some TV show while Adrien did his best to translate. Since Chloe was the one with the credit cards, she was the one to accompany Master Fu and Sabine to the hotel lobby to use the computer there. Fu had dressed down in a less obnoxious shirt, and Chloe's distinctive blond hair was tucked under a hooded sweatshirt, just in case.

While Emilie Agreste _seemed_ trustworthy and the kwamis had confirmed her good nature, that didn't necessarily mean things would stay that way forever- _and_ they didn't want her accidentally mentioning who any of the new Miraculous holders were to Mr. Agreste, who would likely take advantage of that information somehow.

Sabine didn't trust that man not to try to attack the city again to turn back time and change things so that he wouldn't end up in jail with a ruined reputation. Emilie had seemed none too pleased with her husband, and it would be right in character for Mr. Agreste to try to turn to magic to fix that.

"I'm going to have to keep an eye on this card after this," Chloe grumbled as she pulled up an internet window. "I don't trust this connection, not at all. But I don't think there's any other option."

"I think other places would be pretty similar," Sabine agreed, pleased to know that Chloe _did_ have a bit of sense when it came to credit cards and money. From what she had seen and heard before the trip (and a bit during the trip), she had rather wondered. "Make sure that all cookies and login stuff is cleared at the end for sure."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Yeah, _duh_. I know _that_." There was a pause, and then Chloe winced and rubbed her shoulder. "Uh, I mean- thanks for the reminder, I'll do that for sure?"

Sabine hid a smile. Somehow she suspected that Pollen might have stung her Chosen.

It took no time at all for Chloe to pull up a list of flights, and Sabine and Fu scanned the flight schedule over Chloe's shoulder. There were two flights per day from the closest airport to Paris, just over four hours apart. Both stopped in Chengdu instead of Beijing like their flight out had, which would shorten their travel time somewhat.

"So Adrien has to go first," Chloe announced. "So that he gets home before his mom. But there's only two seats left on the earlier flight two days out. Maybe we can do Mrs. Cheng and Adrien?"

"No, let's put Adrien and Marinette on the early flight," Sabine told her. "We need to spread out the people who speak Mandarin."

"And I think that we should put Sabine on the same flight as Mrs. Agreste, the second flight of the day," Master Fu chimed in. "Just to keep an eye on her to make sure she gets back safely. Out of all of us, she's the least likely to stand out among the crowd. And normally I wouldn't do flights on such a quick turnaround, especially since Mrs. Agreste doesn't have any paperwork with her, but she assured me that Nathalie would be able to figure something out."

Chloe nodded, checking the seats on that flight. "Five seats left there."

"Good. I'll try to get a seat where I can see Mrs. Agreste, but she wouldn't be staring at me for the whole flight." Sabine glanced over at Master Fu. "And then the four of you can return the next day on the same flight."

Chloe's fingers were flying as she reserved the seats, triple-checking the dates as she did. Adrien and Marinette's reservations were first, followed by Sabine and Mrs. Agreste's. They spent a couple minutes looking over the remaining seats available on the two legs of the flight, figuring out which ones would be best. They settled on two seats that weren't _too_ close together, but that would allow Sabine not to lose Mrs. Agreste when they were getting off of the plane.

"Got 'em," Chloe announced. "Now I need to get ours, but that's not as big of a deal."

"Well, you don't want to miss your flight and have to go back even later," Sabine pointed out. "If there's too much time between when _we_ get back and when you get back, someone is bound to notice."

"My dad won't," Chloe said matter-of-factly. She winced and rubbed her side- Pollen had apparently bitten her again- and then corrected herself. "But I suppose Nino and Alya's parents might, so I'll get our tickets right away."

Sabine glanced around the lobby as Chloe made the last of the reservations. Mrs. Agreste hadn't emerged, it would seem; there was no hint of her distinctive blond hair among the sea of dark-haired locals. That was good, though Sabine was sure that the other woman was probably either bored out of her mind or incredibly anxious. She hoped that Mrs. Agreste wasn't calling home _quite_ yet. It would be best if Adrien could call and update Nathalie first on his return home, just as to _not_ completely freak the poor Agreste family secretary out.

With a few more clicks of a button, Chloe printed out the confirmations for all of the flights. Emilie's reservation confirmation got trimmed down to remove anything that could identify Chloe or Mr. Bourgeois, and then Chloe cleared the computer of all of her credit card and email info before logging out.

"Well, that went well," Master Fu commented as they headed back upstairs. They got off on Emilie's floor and slid the paper with the flight information on it under. Wayzz popped under for a moment to make sure that she got it, and then they were on their way upstairs to update the rest of the group on the plans. "We'll have to drive overnight, though. I'm not sure how people will feel about that."

"Well, we have the hotel to enjoy tonight," Sabine pointed out. "And some time to get out and about if we need. That'll have to balance tomorrow out."

"Would they have a hairdresser in this town?" Chloe asked immediately. "I just want to get my hair evened out, so it's not _immediately_ apparent that it was a home job. It won't be up to the standards of my favorite salon, of course, but it'll do until we get home."

"Probably. I can send Tenzin out with you to look around town," Master Fu told her. "Would you like to shower before, or just go right away?"

"Oh, _god_." Chloe made a face. "I don't want anyone touching my hair when it's in this state. _I_ don't want to be touching my hair when it's like this. I'll shower first and then go out after I'm done."

"That sounds like a plan."

"But won't you have little bits of hair from the cut then?" Sabine pointed out. "That'll be itchy."

"I'll take another shower when we get back, no problem."

Sabine supposed that she should have expected that, honestly.

They reached their floor, and the first room that they visited was Adrien and Marinette's. To their surprise, Nino and Alya had apparently headed over to another room, leaving Adrien and Marinette alone with a TV program playing quietly in the background as they lay flopped across the beds.

"Oh, we'll get to go back _really_ soon, then," Adrien commented, pushing himself up as he scanned the flight details. "I thought we might have to wait a few days to get spots to open up! This is fantastic. Good work, Chloe."

"Just promise me that you won't let my father see you until I've texted that I'm back, _promise_ ," Chloe told Adrien. "Since I'll be getting back a day later, and so will Alya and Nino. Stay inside. I won't make a big deal about it when I come back so my father might be a little blurry on the return date after the first couple days, but..."

"Of course," Adrien promised. "I'll probably be spending the time with my mom, after all. And I'm sure we'll probably spend that time inside." He sighed. "Like usual."

"You think she'll be as overprotective as before, with things with the Rat all ironed out?" Chloe asked. She frowned. "Maybe if my dad talks to him-"

Adrien shook his head. "He wouldn't have the right approach, I don't think. I'll have Nathalie talk to her, and get her to see sense."

Sabine frowned and made a mental note to talk to Adrien's mother as well once they were back- or maybe she could even start working on her as a neutral third party while they were on the road. If she asked what Emilie's plans were once she got back to Paris, just all interested-like, and do a bit of fishing, then she could figure out how overprotective she was planning on being. She could point out that the Rat wasn't going to harm her or Adrien and there were no further threats. Sabine was sure that _some_ basic security was going to stay, and Adrien seemed to enjoy having a driver, but he could be let out on his own more often, and _particularly_ on outings with his friends.

After tasting freedom, Adrien would not easily accept going back to his sheltered, confined life from before. And Sabine would do everything she could to help him.

Chloe just shrugged, apparently accepting Adrien's words without argument. "We'll figure it out. But, speaking of Nathalie-" her lips stretched into a smirk- "Your mom'll probably call her as soon as she finishes reading over the flight information. How much do you think she'll freak out?"


	20. Chapter 20

The last thing that Nathalie had been expecting mid-day Friday was a call from her missing boss. In fact, she nearly didn't pick up for the unknown number, but decided last minute that it wouldn't hurt.

After all, if it was more pesky reporters trying to score an interview, she would get to use her new airhorn again, and that was actually pretty fun.

Nathalie sighed and lifted the receiver, wedging the phone between her shoulder and ear. "Agreste residence, Nathalie Sancoeur speaking-"

"Nathalie! I was hoping to catch you, I didn't know what time it was in Paris right now. I was just hoping that it wasn't the middle of the night"

Nathalie nearly dropped the phone. She recognized that voice, but it couldn't be, could it? Emilie Agreste was missing- _magically_ missing, presumed dead- so how was she on the phone right now?

"Nathalie? Are you there?"

"Yes, yes," Nathalie said hastily, scrambling to regain her usual composure. "I just- I wasn't expecting you to call. I mean, obviously, since you were missing."

Mrs. Agreste giggled. "Yes, well, the superheroes rescued me from the magic trap that I had gotten caught in. And they got me caught up on everything that happened in Paris," she added quickly before Nathalie even had time to _start_ to contemplate how to break the news to Mrs. Agreste that her husband was in jail for being a supervillain. "And I figured that I would call and give you all a heads-up back in Paris. I'm not sure how I'm going to get back, actually, since I don't have any of my paperwork with me right now- but I _do_ have tickets for my plane ride back, so I guess I'll figure something out?"

"If you tell me what airport, I can look into getting some sort of documentation faxed there," Nathalie said immediately, working to shut off the parts of her brain that were panicking to focus on the problem at hand. "And what airport are you transferring through? I'll contact officials at all of the airports, so that they know to expect you and what your situation is."

Mrs. Agreste told her, and Nathalie hurried to write all of the flight details down, double- and triple-checking the flight numbers and time and dates. Mrs. Agreste was returning soon, _really_ soon, and that didn't give her much time to get the paperwork straightened out and the proper authorities alerted.

That also didn't give her much time to get Adrien home, but one problem at a time. That was all she could handle.

"Can you fetch Adrien?" Mrs. Agreste asked anxiously as soon as they had confirmed that Nathalie had all of the information that she needed and it was correct. "I've _so_ been looking forward to talking to him again- the superheroes told me that it's been a _year_ that I've been gone, and I'm sure he's been worried, especially with Gabriel being a supervillain."

...oh, this was _exactly_ what Nathalie hadn't wanted to happen.

"Adrien is, uh, at a friend's house at the moment," Nathalie lied smoothly- or, well, it wasn't a _complete_ lie, considering that Adrien _was_ with his girlfriend. There was no _way_ that she was going to tell Mrs. Agreste that her son was in another country. "But I'll definitely call and tell him that you're on the way home."

"Oh!" Mrs. Agreste sounded surprised. "A friend? Is it Miss Bourgeois?"

Nathalie managed to quash a nervous snort. _Miss Bourgeois?_ Adrien had only spent minimal time with his childhood friend since starting school, to the best of her knowledge. "No, it's someone Adrien met at school. He's made quite the supportive group of friends there."

" _School?_ Adrien's been allowed to go to _school?_ "

"It's been quite beneficial for him!" Nathalie said quickly, hoping that Mrs. Agreste wouldn't pull her son out of school just out of reflex. Adrien just loved it so much, and it would crush him to have to leave. "He's top of the class, and has a number of friends that _aren't_ spoiled like Miss Bourgeois. Adrien has been a whole lot happier since starting school, too."

"We'll discuss it when I get home," Mrs. Agreste decided, and Nathalie was relieved to hear that at least she didn't sound particularly upset. "...if I call tomorrow night, do you think Adrien would be home? I don't know if I'll be able to for sure, since I'm not sure about our schedule- we might end up having to drive through the night to get to the airport on time- but if I can..."

Nathalie cringed. "Uh, I don't know? I know that Adrien had said something about a date with his girlfriend tomorrow and they had reservations for dinner," she told Mrs. Agreste, knowing full well that if Adrien were home and _did_ have plans with Marinette, he would reschedule in a moment so he could talk to his mother. But Mrs. Agreste was a romantic at heart, and Nathalie hoped that she would be dissuaded from pressing the point if her son's romance was at stake. Or, at the very least, maybe she would get too distracted to ask too many questions. "I think he said something about an anniversary?"

Her gamble paid off. "Oh, how _sweet!_ " Mrs. Agreste exclaimed instantly, sounding positively delighted. "Adrien has a girlfriend? I can't wait to meet her! I'll wait to talk to him until I get home, then, I don't want him to cancel his anniversary date. Do you know how long...?"

"Uh, two months, I think?" Nathalie guessed, hoping that she was right. She wasn't actually certain when Adrien and Marinette had started dating. It hadn't been right after Mr. Agreste's arrest, she knew that much. Marinette hadn't wanted to dive right into a relationship when Adrien was still reeling over his father's arrest, so they had waited until life more or less returned to normal.

In fact, now that she thought about it, she wasn't _entirely_ certain that they were actually dating, even though Adrien _had_ once told her that Marinette was his girlfriend, back before Mr. Agreste was arrested. His behavior around his "girlfriend" had then verged _much_ more on the "not actually dating but _wants_ to be dating", which suggested that Adrien had more than likely been embarrassed and put on the spot when she was asking him about all the time he had been spending with his friend and just blurted out the girlfriend thing. It was entirely possible that he and Miss Dupain-Cheng were still dancing around the subject, particularly because of Mr. Agreste's arrest shortly after they started hanging out.

Oh, well. Nathalie would have to inform them that they were dating now if they hadn't been before. She was sure that they wouldn't object _too_ much.

"Oh, I wish I could have been there to see them start dating!" Mrs. Agreste exclaimed. "Are they cute together?"

Nathalie thought back to the last time he had seen Adrien and Marinette together. They had been close without being all over each other, and they teased each other quite often, all without being insulting. " _Very_."

Mrs. Agreste made a _very_ pleased noise. "And is she a good person?"

"Very much so."

"I can't wait to meet her," Mrs. Agreste said cheerfully. "Oh, my little boy grew up so much while I was gone! I thought that most things would be the same with what Adrien was up to. But this- oh, I can't wait to catch up with him, and to meet his friends and-!" Mrs. Agreste sounded a bit breathless with excitement. "Oh, I'd ask you to tell me everything, but this _is_ an international call and I don't want to rack up a ton of charges for the superheroes. They've already done so much for me. Is there anything else you need...?"

"I believe that's everything. I'll let the officials here know that you've been found and make sure you'll be able to get back without a hitch," Nathalie assured her employer, and then bid her good-bye and hung up.

As soon as the phone line went dead and she allowed herself to think properly again, Nathalie clutched her head in absolute, utter horror. If she had thought that she had been stressed by forgetting (" _forgetting_ "; she still maintained that Mr. Agreste had just failed to ask her in the first place) to get Adrien's birthday present, she was wrong.

 _This_ was stress.

Mrs. Agreste was going to be returning to Paris in only two days, and Adrien was off trotting around _somewhere_ in China. He had warned her that he might not get cell phone signal in some of the places he was going, and they hadn't exactly set a return date yet. If she couldn't contact him in time and get a flight arranged so he would return home before his mother, then she would probably be out a job. Mrs. Agreste was overprotective of her only son, and letting him go off to another country would be a _huge_ no-no. Not even sending his bodyguard along would be considered an even bigger offence.

And letting him go off without knowing exactly where he was going to be at every hour of every day and when he was going to be back and then lying about his whereabouts... well, Nathalie just had to fix it before Mrs. Agreste found out about it, or she was going to be _toast_.

Nathalie scrambled to pick up her phone again so she could call Adrien right away. He might not be happy about having to cut his trip short initially, but she was sure that he would be thrilled to hear that his mother was alive and well. Surely that would effectively counteract the disappointment of having to go home early.

His phone went straight to voicemail, which she honestly should have expected. Nathalie cursed her past self for not thinking of getting Adrien a satellite phone and a couple portable battery chargers, maybe, so she could contact him at all times. Still, there was nothing she could do to fix that now.

"Adrien, I need you to call me as soon as you get this message," Nathalie said, hoping her voice sounded as professional as normal. "It would appear that the superheroes found your mother in Tibet, and she's returning to Paris in two days. If you could make it back before then, that would be great. Call me and I will get travel to the airport and a flight home arranged." Nathalie ended the call, then texted Adrien the same message just to be sure that he got it. She fidgeted in her seat, nervously watching her phone as though expecting it to light up any second. After setting it to the loudest setting possible, Nathalie turned to her computer and started researching flights before realizing that she didn't actually _know_ where in China Adrien and his friend's family had gone.

Nathalie could have kicked herself. That was a novice error, not even asking Adrien for an itinerary of any sort. She knew that they had said something about the schedule not being set in stone- thus why Nathalie didn't know all of the details of Adrien's return flight- but it would have been good to know what general _region_ they were going to be in. Then she could go ahead and get plane tickets without waiting for Adrien to get the message, and she could at least feel like she was being productive.

Several more minutes passed, and then Nathalie sat back down at her computer to send emails to all of the email accounts that she knew Adrien had. There was still no response- not that she _expected_ it, really, since if Adrien was out of phone range, he might not get back in or even think of checking in for several days. Nathalie pushed herself out of her chair and paced some more, then sat back down, pulled up the contact information for Marinette and her mother, and texted and emailed the both of them, too.

"Maybe I should drive over to the Dupain-Cheng bakery, too, and see if Mr. Dupain has any other contact information for Sabine's family," Nathalie said to herself. She glanced up at the ceiling, clutching at her hair as she thought about it. "It wouldn't hurt to ask, right? Or maybe I should wait until tomorrow morning. If Adrien hasn't responded by then, then I'll bother Mr. Dupain." Plan decided, Nathalie turned her attention back to writing up an email to all of the officials that could possibly help make Mrs. Agreste's trip back home smoother. Still, she couldn't focus.

How on _earth_ had the superheroes found Mrs. Agreste, and how was she still alive? She had been missing for over a year, and in a not particularly hospitable part of Tibet. There must have been magic involved, and at the moment it felt like only magic could get Adrien back in time.

Nathalie nibbled her way anxiously through lunch, eyes glued on her phone. Once she was done, she went back to her desk and drafted up an email to send to the investigators who had been working on Mrs. Agreste's case to let them know that their services would no longer be needed, as well as to Mrs. Agreste's phone company, to get her number re-activated, and then called up several other authorities to make sure that her email had been received and noted so that Mrs. Agreste wouldn't get stopped at the airport on suspicion of using a false passport or invalid paperwork. She was in the middle of trying to figure out who else she should contact when her phone rang.

Jumping, Nathalie scrambled to grab it. She fumbled the phone badly when she saw Adrien's number on the screen, almost hitting the _decline call_ button instead of _accept_.

"Hello?"

"Nathalie?" Adrien sounded a bit breathless. "You called? You said that my _mom_ was found?"

"Right," Nathalie confirmed. "I talked to her. She'll be coming home in two days- well, then landing in three. I need you to come home as soon as possible, because you _know_ that she'll want to see you-" and he would want to see her, naturally "-and you know she'll be furious if you aren't here when she arrives."

"I've actually already got tickets for the trip home," Adrien told her. " _Also_ in two days' time, arriving on the third."

Nathalie let out a sigh of relief- oh, thank _goodness_ \- and then froze. "Wait, when does your flight get in?" she demanded, visions of Adrien and his mother running into each other at the airport dancing in her head. "Adrien, if you get in at the same time as your mother- if she sees that you weren't at home the entire time-"

"I'm supposed to come in mid-afternoon," Adrien reported. There was the sound of papers shuffling on the other end of the line. "Just after two."

Nathalie let out a sigh of relief at that. "Oh, _perfect._ Your mother is supposed to get in at six forty-five, so that's plenty of time. That's great timing, by the way," Nathalie commented after another moment with a bit of a laugh. Oh, that was just _loads_ of stress off of her chest. Now all she had to do was make sure that Mrs. Agreste's bedroom was clean and work on getting the police report resolved and start the process of getting all of Mrs. Agreste's cards and accounts unfrozen, as well as contact Customs again to make sure that they knew that Mrs. Agreste would be coming through and send her passport to the Paris airport and fax paperwork to the other two airports and maybe wire a bit of money to Mrs. Agreste. She would have to contact the Tibetan authorities to get Mrs. Agreste temporary paperwork to exit the country, too. That was easy and something Nathalie could control. After all, paperwork was her forte. "What are the chances that you would get back only hours before your mom?"

"Ah, ha ha, yeah," Adrien said, sounding supremely uncomfortable, but Nathalie was too relieved to notice.

"Just text me the flight details before you leave so that I can track the flights and have your driver pick you up as soon as you get home," Nathalie told Adrien, still feeling a bit giddy. She was going to have a generous glass of red wine as soon as she hung up. "And then, uh, we won't tell your mom that you were gone. At all."

"Of course," Adrien assured her. There was a muffled shout on the other end of the line, and Nathalie could hear Adrien muffle his phone to say something to someone before coming back on. "But, uh, I have to go now, we're, ah, making dinner right now."

Nathalie nodded, then remembered that Adrien couldn't see her. "Right, of course. Don't forget to send me the flight details. Bye, Adrien."

"Bye, Nathalie!"

Once she hung up, Nathalie wasted no time in trotting off to the kitchen for a drink, because _boy_ did she ever deserve it with this family. Once she was situated in back in her chair with a generous glass in her hand, it occurred to Nathalie that she _really_ should contact the prison and have them pass the message on to Mr. Agreste that his wife was alive and had been found.

Nathalie groaned loudly. She had _just_ settled down. After a further few moments of consideration, she decided that Mr. Agreste could wait until the next day to learn the news. After all, she had worked more than enough overtime for him before. She wasn't going to do it now.

Even as Nathalie set her glass aside and reached for her phone to make the first of the necessary phone calls to prepare for Mrs. Agreste's return, it never occurred to her that Adrien hadn't sounded _nearly_ as surprised about the news as she had thought he would be.

 

* * *

 

"She didn't even _question_ it," Adrien told Marinette as he set his cell phone back down on his bedside table next to the snoozing kwamis, completely stunned. Nathalie _always_ caught and questioned any of his excuses. "I mean, she said that it was a funny coincidence that I would be coming back on the same day as Mom, but then she got caught up in the logistics."

"Well, your mom _did_ just call her out of the blue only a little while ago," Marinette pointed out. She was perched on the bed, watching Adrien. "She was probably really frazzled from that. We'll have to come up with some sort of excuse before we get back."

Adrien nodded. Marinette was probably right. "I don't even know what we _could_ say. Like, Nathalie is right. What _are_ the chances?"

The two of them puzzled over that for a few minutes. As he thought, Adrien came over to join Marinette on the bed, curling up by her side. Her fingers slid into his hair, scratching gently and making Adrien relax into her.

"Well, we _have_ been gone for a few weeks, so it isn't completely out of the blue that we would be returning soon," Marinette pointed out. She chewed on her lip nervously. "And, uh, maybe we could say that we were thinking about when to come back, and then we ran into a really respected fortune teller and he told us what day we should go back?"

"Nathalie isn't going to like that," Adrien said immediately. "She doesn't really believe in magic and supernatural stuff."

"...Adrien, your father was a supervillain who terrorized the city using magically-controlled puppets," Marinette said flatly. Adrien winced.

"Okay, okay, point taken."

"I can't really think of any other excuses," Marinette said after several more minutes. "And maybe we'll get lucky and she won't remember to ask about that again. She probably _will_ ask about your time with my family, though."

Adrien winced. Oh, _right_. That was the excuse that they had given Nathalie. Once his mother returned then there probably wouldn't be many questions, out of worry that his mother might overhear and realize that Adrien had been allowed out of the country without his bodyguard, but there would be a couple hours between when he returned and when his mother would get back to Paris and Nathalie might want to hear about his trip then. "Maybe you should tell me about some of your family members while we're on the plane. Or now. Or both."

Marinette thought about it while Adrien flopped across her lap for better access to pats. She could feel the tension in his shoulders, weeks of worry and secret-keeping and planning taking their toll even though he had been having a good time. "Well, you've already met my great-uncle, so we can say that we spent some time with him. And you talked with him a fair bit when we went out to dinner with him."

Adrien nodded. "Okay! Yeah, and then I can say we ate at his restaurant for several meals instead of eating camp dinners cooked in foil. Nathalie will approve."

"But we can't have spent the entire time with him," Marinette continued. "Since he works in the city and we told Nathalie that we might be out of cell phone coverage. So we can say that we visited my grandma, and then just lie and say that she lives out in the country instead of the city."

Adrien frowned. "Wait, where does she actually live?"

"In Shanghai."

He couldn't help it, he really couldn't. Adrien snorted loudly, the tension rolling off of his shoulders as he laughed. "Yeah, that's not exactly _country_ , bug. That's the biggest city in China. And also on the opposite side of the country from where we were."

"I _know_ that!" Marinette protested, but she was laughing as well. "I've been there! It's just that I've actually met my grandma and spent some time with her, so I call tell you all about her. And Nathalie won't know that she actually lives in Shanghai."

"And if we ever _do_ visit her in the future?"

Marinette thought about it for a minute. "...she moved?"

Adrien flopped back on the bed, still laughing. "Right, because people who have lived in the country for their entire lives _normally_ just up and move to the city?"

"Well, if she has relatives there, then maybe!"

"Oh, _bugaboo_." Adrien grinned over at her. "Nathalie isn't going to accept that."

"Well, maybe she'll forget before any of this actually becomes an issue."

"And if she asks about pictures, I'm screwed," Adrien added after a second of thought. "We have pictures of us on different points on their hike- and, well, we can't fake any photos with your family members, either."

"Maybe Nathalie will be flustered enough with your mom coming back to forget to ask about photos," Marinette suggested. "You'll only be getting home a few hours before her. Nathalie might want to focus on getting your camping things out of sight and getting your story straight instead of hearing about your trip."

"That's true. She's not much for show-and-tell, either, really." Adrien relaxed again, stretching out on the bed. All of this talk about pictures reminded him that he wasn't going to be able to post any of his photos from the trip in his room, because his mom would recognize the landscape at once.

Adrien really wished that just for once, he could be like a normal kid. A _normal_ kid wouldn't have to hide the greatest trip in his life from his mother. A normal kid wouldn't have to worry about persuading his mother to let him keep attending public school. But this _was_ his life, and so he had to deal with it.

At least he had his friends and Marinette's family. He could go over there and talk as freely as he wanted. He could even talk about being Chat Noir, which was more than he ever thought he would be able to do.

They lay there in silence for a few minutes, and then Marinette spoke up again. "I feel like I really have to enjoy the hotel now, since we won't get to sleep in a bed again until we get back to Paris."

"Oh, that's right. That's _awful_." As glad as Adrien was about being able to go back to Paris sooner rather than later, he was already enjoying the bed a little too much to go without one for the next several days. They would be sleeping in the car, and then sleeping on the plane the very next day. Neither was particularly conducive to good sleep, which was going to _stink_.

...maybe he could use some of his tea and just knock himself out. He would have to be careful with how much he had, but at least he would sleep.

Adrien could already feel the phantom pain from neck cramps because he fell asleep at an awkward position. That was the only problem with the tea, really.

"So showers for sure," Marinette continued, making no move to get up at all. "And sleep."

"Mmm-hmm."

There was a long pause after that.

"We're not going to get up and do anything until your mom comes back, are we?"

"...nope."

 

* * *

 

Day Two in the car was...well, _long_. Their breaks were cut by a third, and they had returned to just sandwiches for their meals. Dusk fell, and they were _still_ driving.

"We're a little behind schedule," Jade Turtle told Adrien and Marinette when the cars stopped at a gas station for a bathroom break. "We _should_ hit a straight stretch of road soon, and we might speed up for those sections to get back on track."

Adrien worried his lower lip. He was _terrified_ that they might miss his flight, and _then_ they would be in trouble. If he and Marinette missed their plane, then the next flight out would be the one that Ms. Cheng and his mom were going to be on. If it had been hard to keep his presence a secret from his mom on the way back from the temple, it would be all but _impossible_ to be on two long flights- one of them an overnight- without her spotting him.

"We'll get you guys there on time," Jade Turtle assured him. "Even if I have to recharge Wayzz and cut cross-country with you guys at the top speed I can manage. But Sabine and I have been sleeping these last few hours, so we'll be driving all night, as planned. Without many other cars on the roads, we should be able to get through the cities pretty quickly. You two should just sleep, so that you're awake enough to navigate through the airports tomorrow by yourselves."

"And you and my mom aren't going to fall asleep at the wheel?" Marinette checked. She looked worried. "I know my mom had a second cousin who did, and they died."

"We both drank some quite energizing tea," Master Fu assured her. "It has magical properties. And we will not keep driving if we feel ourselves drifting. "

"And you said that _you're_ going to drive?" Adrien asked warily. "Are you- I mean, _can_ you, in a normal car?"

"Ah, yes, well, that brings us to the second reason I came over here." He turned to Marinette. "I was wondering if you could transform and Lucky Charm me a pair of pedal extensions. I'll sit on a pillow- or perhaps two- so that I can see, and then attach the extenders. I'm a little out of practice with driving, but I'm sure it'll come back soon enough."

"Just when I think you can't alarm me more, you say something like that," Lycaena said, appearing around the side of the car. "One of the drivers will be staying awake with you first, right?"

Jade Turtle looked sheepish. "Perhaps that would be a good idea, yes. But I _have_ been driving for close to a hundred years! I don't think a short break will throw me off _too_ much. I'll ask that he does for the first hour or so," he added. "To supervise, and to make sure that I know where everything is in the car. And I can wake him up if I have any questions. We're not going to be going through any cities, so it's all just straight-line driving!"

"In the _dark_ ," Lycaena reminded him, still looking a bit exasperated. She turned to Ladybug and Chat Noir. "You can always stay transformed while you sleep. Just in case."

"Hey!"

Rolling her eyes, Ladybug summoned a Lucky Charm. The pink light lit up the parking lot as a pedal extender appeared and she handed it over to Jade Turtle. He thanked her at once and hurried away to install it. Ladybug's earrings beeped, and Chat Noir knew it was because Tikki wasn't thrilled with the unexpected surge in power usage.

"Let's have Queen Bee in the car with Master Fu and the two of you," Lycaena suggested while they waited for Jade Turtle to return. "That way, if anything goes sideways, you have the person with the credit card with you to resolve any problems. And we've had Rena Rouge and Paon together with Mrs. Agreste for the rest of the trip, so we don't want to randomly switch stuff up unnecessarily."

"Or make her think that some of us are making a break for it and catching a plane that'll get back to Paris before hers, because talk about suspicious," Chat Noir pointed out. They had told his mom that she had gotten the first ride back to Paris, which wasn't _strictly_ true. "How are we going to pull that off, by the way?"

"Your car will go first, and once people are asleep then I'll let you guys get ahead. We'll lose sight of you and then by the time the cars meet up again, I'm sure Mrs. Agreste will be more focused on her upcoming flight and everything that goes along with it."

" _If_ the cars meet up again," Jade Turtle chimed in. "We might say that our car is running errands. We _do_ have to set up hotel rooms for the rest of the group."

A call from Palijor made them look over. He gestured for them to come over and the adults headed over, Ladybug and Chat Noir trailing behind.

"He wants to talk about the plan," Chat Noir explained to Ladybug as they headed over. "And apparently my mom wants to talk to the group?" He felt a little unsure about that. "D'you think that she guessed that she might not be on the earliest flight?"

"I'm sure that's not it." Ladybug reached over and twined her fingers with his. "At most, she might want to thank the group. She might suspect that the cars might not keep together for the rest of the trip with different drivers, especially with driving at night."

As it turned out, Chat Noir had been worrying for nothing. Ladybug had been right.

"I don't know if I'll have another chance to talk to all of you, really, so I wanted to thank you now from the bottom of my heart for taking the time out of your lives to come rescue me," Mrs. Agreste told them, green eyes brimming with emotion. "Thanks to you, I'll get my life back- well, as different as it'll be with Gabriel in jail. But I'll get to go back to my son while he's still practically the same age, and I'll get to spend time with him. And that means the world to me, it really does."

Chat Noir felt his eyes getting a little misty as well. He couldn't _wait_ to get back to Paris and give his mom a proper hug. She was so incredibly genuine about her gratefulness towards the superheroes and made no secret of how eager she was to get back to- well, to _him._

Being here was a million times better than sitting back in Paris and waiting anxiously there without knowing what was going on, but he was going to give himself away if he was close to his mom for much longer.

Thankfully, Ladybug's earrings beeped again, reminding them of her impending detransformation. Jade Turtle assured Mrs. Agreste that they were glad to have helped and then they dispersed into their respective cars.

"Well, let's head out," Jade Turtle said cheerfully as he hopped into the driver's seat. "Last leg of the trip, here we go!"

 

* * *

 

The sun had long since set, and still the road stretched ahead. Lycaena gave herself a good shake, took another sip of the magical tea, and pushed the accelerator down a bit harder. The car sped up, slowly but surely.

Up ahead, the other car was speeding merrily along. Clearly Master Fu wanted to be sure to make it back with plenty of time for Adrien and Marinette to catch their flight. Lycaena wanted the same, of course- she had no idea what they would do if they missed their flight, because then the probability of Mrs. Agreste reaching Paris before Adrien would be _impossibly_ high.

She wouldn't think about it. They were on track right now, and the last time that she had had Paon check for her, there was no weather and no construction waiting for them up ahead.

In the back seat, Paon stirred briefly, waking up and blinking around. She caught his eye briefly and he waved before yawning and settling back down with his head resting on Rena Rouge's shoulder. It wasn't long until he was asleep again.

They were the only two cars on the road, which didn't surprise Lycaena at all. It wasn't a large highway that they were on, and they only infrequently passed by towns. It was late, and everyone else slept.

Another sip of tea kept her awake and focused. She longed for some music, someone to talk to, _anything_ that would make the hours go by faster, but she couldn't detransform to talk to Nooroo or turn the radio on. The former would risk her identity- after all, Mrs. Agreste sat in the back seat and could awaken any time- and the latter could easily wake her passengers up.

Lycaena drove, and drove, and drove. She could barely still the other car up ahead, a dot of light against the otherwise dark landscape. They hit a straight stretch and she sped up a bit, trying to make sure that they didn't fall _too_ far behind.

Sure, they wanted the other car to be out of sight by the time everyone woke up so that they could get Adrien and Marinette to the airport without tipping Mrs. Agreste off, but she didn't want to be _way_ behind.

They were never doing this again, not unless there was some sort of emergency. They should have just taken three days to get back and let Nathalie figure out how to keep Mrs. Agreste from calling again to talk to Adrien. It would have been a much more relaxed trip then.

A gentle glow appeared behind the mountains to the east. Lycaena watched the sun slowly rise as she kept driving. Shortly after it finished rising, Palijor stirred, blinking awake. He peered at the sun, frowning sleepily.

"The other car is far ahead of us," Lycaena told him. "I lost sight of them two hours ago."

He nodded, at first blearily and then once more as he woke up properly and became more alert. "That's good. They should arrive with plenty of time, then, even if we run into traffic."

"I just hope that they don't get in trouble for speeding." Lycaena checked her own speedometer as they passed a speed limit sign and adjusted accordingly. "They were going _quite_ fast."

Palijor chuckled. "Really? Even with the turtle behind the wheel?"

Lycaena couldn't hide her own laugh at that. "He really has quite a love for speeding. Riding in his shell with him really can be terrifying. I just hope that his driving is more responsible."

"Tenzin would not allow him behind the wheel of his car if he didn't trust him to drive safely," Palijor assured her. "And it's very likely that they switched out drivers not much further down the road, so that Jade Turtle would not be driving in the city traffic."

"Oh, are we getting close?" Lycaena asked, just as they went around a gentle bend, and they could spot city lights in the distance. She grinned, relieved. "That's good."

"We can trade places in about an hour," he told her. "There will be a gas station there, which I'm sure we will need."

Lycaena checked the gas gauge. It was concerningly low. "Are you sure that we'll make it? It looks as though we'll run out before."

Palijor only shrugged. "It's always worked before. I coast in on fumes, usually, but I always make it."

"If you say so."

The dial looked very much empty and Mrs. Agreste had woken up by the time they pulled into the gas station. Lycaena woke the two teens up as Palijor started to fill up the tank.

"Wassap?" Paon asked blearily, blinking up at her. "We there?"

"I thought you might want to use the bathroom while we're stopped," Lycaena told them. "Otherwise it could be a couple hours yet."

Two very tired teens nodded and slid out of the car, yawning as they went. Lycaena followed them, ignoring the stares from the staff inside. They all took turns using the bathroom, and then Lycaena bought them all a hot muffin to go along with the rest of their breakfast.

(Part of her was practically _offended_ at the thought of eating a mass-produced muffin bought at a gas station, but it didn't matter. They all needed a bit of a treat after being on the road all night.)

They piled back into the car, this time with Palijor back at the wheel. They had only been driving for a few minutes when Lycaena fell asleep, the last effects of the tea properly wearing off. When she woke up, they were pulling up in front of the same hotel that they had stayed at for the first couple nights.

"It's probably too early to check in," Palijor commented, glancing out the window. "But it is where Jade Turtle told us to meet them. Unless we have other errands to do in the meantime...?"

"I'd like to stop at the police station," Mrs. Agreste said, leaning forward between the seats. "Nathalie said that she would do her best to get the ID and passport thing sorted out for me. I don't think there's a embassy here, but maybe the police can point me in the right direction."

"Of course."

They peeled out of the parking lot and wove through town. It didn't take long to find police headquarters and park. Palijor went in with Mrs. Agreste, and Lycaena took the opportunity to detransform and check her phone. There was a single message and she didn't waste any time clicking on it. She skimmed the message, and then Lycaena grinned.

"They made it!" she announced, waving her phone at Paon and Rena. "Adrien and Marinette got to the airport with plenty of time to spare. They'll be in the air in only an hour or two, before Mrs. Agreste and I check in."

Rena and Paon cheered, and Lycaena couldn't help grinning herself. They had pushed hard and made it back to Lhasa, just in time for their plan to work exactly how they meant it to.

After the weeks of struggling and worries, it was about time something went perfectly right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Getting close to the end woohoo!
> 
> Just thought i would mention- I'm transitioning from my winter job to my spring one starting tomorrow and it might take a couple days for me to figure everything out, get settled, and begin posting again. The person I'm staying with doesn't have Internet, so I'll have to find a library or something nearby that I can use instead (wish me luck, 'cause I really don't know the area that well!).


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which insanity happens.

Marinette waited with their bags as Adrien talked to Tenzin, thanking him for his help. They shook hands and then Tenzin waved at Marinette before popping back into his car and driving off.

Now they were actually alone.

Marinette stepped closer to Adrien as they stepped into the airport. It seemed even larger than it had been before, and busier as people bustled back and forth, clearly knowing exactly where they were going. Now Marinette wished that they had accepted Master Fu's offer to come with them as far as the security, because _this?_

She didn't feel at all ready to travel internationally all on her own.

"Oh, I see where we're supposed to check in," Adrien said before Marinette could get _too_ far into her panic. He reached out and took her hand. "C'mon, Bugaboo. Let's go get in line."

Marinette let herself breathe as she followed Adrien's lead, and she felt Tikki patting her side from inside of her daypack. That was right. She _wasn't_ alone, and they _did_ have Tikki and Plagg to translate in case Adrien had any trouble.

"I'm really regretting not learning Mandarin when I was younger right about now," Marinette commented as she and Adrien waited in line to check in. She shifted her shoulders, trying to adjust the weight of her backpacking bag on her shoulders. "I hate not knowing what people are saying."

"Mandarin wouldn't really help much now," Adrien admitted, glancing around. "It's mostly Tibetan, I think. Or I assume, at least, since I don't really understand it. But I'm sure the people at the counter will speak Mandarin."

"Hopefully. I don't want to have to try to repeat after Tikki to communicate or something." Marinette thought back to the mess at the restaurant their first night and shuddered. She could hear Tikki giggling.

"Oh, that _would_ be bad! The agent would wonder how you know the words enough to string together a sentence but not pronounce anything correctly!" Tikki giggled again. "They would really be confused!"

Marinette spluttered. "Oh- hey! I could pronounce _some_ things correctly, I bet! I've been working really hard at remembering what kinds of things to emphasize and some of the little linguistic accent-y things!"

Next to her, Adrien was doing his best not to laugh. His cheeks bulged out as he tried to hide his amusement, but all it did was make him look funny. Marinette pouted at him.

"Oh, not you, too!"

Adrien finally lost his battle with the laughter. It rolled loose, sweet and free. " _Accent-y things?_ That'll make us have a ton of trust in your linguistic abilities for sure!"

"I forgot what they were called!"

Adrien just shook his head, grin stretching from cheek to cheek.

It didn't take long before it was their turn to be at the counter. The agent looked startled when it was Adrien, not Marinette, to address him in Mandarin, but he recovered soon enough and scanned their passports, printing out tickets and tags for their luggage.

Marinette rolled her shoulders and winced once she had removed her backpack. _Boy_ was she ever glad that they hadn't had to carry the packs for their entire trip, because it would have made the whole thing a whole lot more miserable.

"Okay, we're good to go," Adrien told her after one last exchange with the agent. He handed Marinette her passport and tickets, sliding his hand around her elbow and leading her away from the counter while she tucked everything into her backpack. "Security line next!"

"Oh, _fun_."

This line was longer, and moved slowly. Marinette waited as patiently as she could, occasionally checking her watch to see how much time they had to catch their flight. The answer was _plenty of time_ \- they were going to be sitting at the gate for a while- but they wanted to ensure that they would be well through before Mrs. Agreste had to check in and worrying was a habit that she couldn't _quite_ shake.

"I can believe I'm saying it, but I can't wait to be on the plane," Adrien said as they reached the front of the line. "Or, rather, I can't wait until we're back and we can actually say that we pulled this off."

"We can probably say that we've pulled it off once we get on our second flight," Marinette commented. "Though I suspect that the other passengers might look at us a bit oddly if we start cheering as soon as we get on."

Adrien hastily muffled another laugh.

With Plagg and Tikki's help, finding their way to their gate barely took any time at all. They chose a seat facing the window close to the flight attendants' desk, so that they could enjoy the view but not run the risk of missing an announcement.

And thus their trip home started without a hitch. It didn't stay that way for long.

"Ugh, I'm never getting on a plane again after this trip," Adrien grumbled as they got off in Chengdu. He was clutching at Marinette's arm, his face a little green. "I _hate_ that feeling."

"We'll find a way to get you some of your tea on the next flight," Marinette promised. "We'll just have to remember to throw away the tea bags before we get to Paris, Maman said. Just to make sure that the customs people don't pull us over for it or something."

Adrien frowned. "They could do that?"

"Customs people can be weird, Adrien. Just accept that."

It didn't take long for the second problem to show up. As soon as they consulted the board of departures to find out what gate they needed to go to, they found out that their flight was delayed.

By an entire hour. Which meant that they had three hours to kill instead of their original two.

"My mom will be getting to this airport by the time we leave," Adrien said as Marinette triple-checked the flight numbers. "We'll have to keep an eye out, just to make sure we stay out of her sight."

Marinette blinked and checked the times again. "Really? I thought she was meant to be getting back to Paris ages after we do?"

Adrien nodded. "She is! It was supposed to be almost five hours after us. She and your mom just have a longer layover here. Remember how she was complaining about it being an awful schedule?"

It took a few seconds for her to place the memory, but yes- Marinette _did_ remember that. Mrs. Agreste had been glad to have a flight home on such short notice, but she had wanted to know if there _really_ weren't any flights to Paris earlier in the day, so she wouldn't have such a long layover and so she would get to spend more time with Adrien before he had to go to bed.

They had told her that while yes, there _was_ an earlier flight, it was full. That was technically true, after all. Adrien and Marinette had taken the last seats. She had accepted that gracefully. " _Complaining_ is a strong word. She was just commenting on it more than anything. I wouldn't want to have a four-hour layover, either."

"We're going to have a three-hour layover," Adrien pointed out. "But at least we're together, I guess. That's better than having to deal with such a long wait on your own." He scribbled the gate number down on his ticket and then hooked his arm around Marinette's so they could move out of the way of the other travelers who wanted to know where they were meant to go next. "To the gate, or do you want to explore a bit first?"

"Bathrooms first," Marinette said firmly. "Then find our gate, so we know where it is. _Then_ we can explore."

By the time they found their gate, departure had been pushed back another half-hour. Adrien frowned and pulled out his phone to text Nathalie to let her know.

"There's definitely going to be overlap between when we're here and when my mom is," Adrien said, frowning at the new time posted on the board. "Uh, can we go look up where her gate will be? I doubt she would go right there first, but I wanna know where we'll have to avoid."

They did that and found that Mrs. Agreste (and Marinette's mom) would be flying out of a gate only two down from theirs. They would have to be very, _very_ careful. Like, _insanely_ careful.

Like, Marinette-didn't-know-how-they-were-meant-to-pull-this-off careful.

"Nathalie says that the website says something about the plane we're meant to be on being delayed on the other end," Adrien reported after a few minutes of waiting at the gate. "It's storming a lot there, and the plane can't take off until it clears. She looked at the radar and thinks that our flight will probably get delayed by another hour."

Marinette flopped back into her seat and groaned loudly. Now their layover would likely be four and a half hours, followed by a _very_ long flight. They would have to hide from Adrien's mom for probably close to two and a half hours, if her hasty mental calculations were anywhere close to being correct. Adrien patted her head comfortingly. "Hey, at least we'll still get back to Paris just over two hours before my mom does. It could be worse."

"You are going to _jinx_ it, Adrien."

With their layover lengthened, the two of them decided to go explore. Tikki kept an eye on the time and also kept an eye on Adrien's phone, so she would know as soon as Nathalie texted with any more delays confirmed. They dipped in and out of different shops, looking at the souvenirs that were offered in some of the shops. Adrien picked up a baseball cap that he could tuck his hair into so that the bright blond wouldn't stick out as easily in the crowd in one of the stores.

"I really like it," he admitted as Marinette helped him get all of the strands tucked up. She had picked up some bobby pins to help tame the mess so it wouldn't fall out. "It's a pity I won't be able to keep it without my mom asking about where I got it."

Marinette giggled as she pinned a particularly long lock of hair in place. "Kitty?"

"Yeah?"

"You've forgotten that you have a girlfriend with family in China who could have picked something up for you on a trip," Marinette reminded him, pinning back one last springy lock before pulling the hat into place. There was still some blond visible, but not enough to catch and hold attention from several gates over. "And we've been friends for- well, the entire school year as Ladybug and Chat Noir, and for months as Adrien and Marinette. I could have gotten it for you during the school year, _before_ we started dating."

Adrien flashed that heart-stopping grin at her. "Right! Oh, that's great. Then I can actually wear it around." He adjusted the hat, making a bit of a face as the hair pins dug in oddly. "The sole souvenir that I got. Maybe we can go back someday and explore the area. I don't necessarily want to do that hike again, but I'd love to learn more about the culture."

"And pick up some trinkets."

Adrien laughed. "That, too."

"If you text Chloe, she might do some shopping for you. If you trust her tastes, that is." Marinette checked her watch against the one on the wall, making sure that she was set to the right time zone just in case. "Or Nino and Alya. They'll be hanging around with nothing to do for most of a day."

Adrien did that. It didn't take up any time at all.

After a bit more window shopping, they headed for the food court for a bite to eat. They would be fed on the plane, of course- such long flights came with meals provided- but that was still several hours out and those meals weren't exactly the most filling thing in the universe. It took a few rounds before they decided where they wanted to order, and then they took the food to a table and sat down to enjoy it properly.

After all, it wasn't as though they had anywhere to be in any hurry.

Once they were finished and they really couldn't make any further excuse to stay at a table, they headed back into the terminal to continue wandering around, pausing at the large windows to watch planes take off for a bit before wandering back in the direction of the stores, hoping to maybe find something to read or play with. They had just exited the first store when Marinette glanced at the time on a clock. At first she just glanced away again- after all, their flight time was still _hours_ away (or potentially just an hour, if Nathalie 's guess wasn't right)- but then she looked again and the meaning of the time sunk in properly, making her freeze. "Adrien?"

"Yeah?"

"It's been over two hours since we arrived. Your mom will be here now."

Adrien froze and glanced around. He didn't see any other blonds in the area, which was good. He would hate to have blown his story already. "Oh, _crud_. I mean-!" he said hastily when he saw Marinette's poorly hidden smile. "Oh, you know what I mean."

It _was_ weird feeling let down that his mother was in the same area as him after months and months of not knowing where she was and wishing to have her back, but Adrien knew full well that he would get in _so_ much trouble if she found out he was out of the country. He definitely didn't want Marinette's family to be labeled as a bad influence, or lose Nathalie as the family secretary just because she approved the trip.

After all, even if his father had been the stricter one, Adrien knew full well that his mother could be just as _dramatic_ if she so chose. He had forgotten a bit over the past year, but the time together with her on the trip back reminded him that over the past few months, he had enjoyed an unusually high level of freedom with Nathalie and the Gorilla.

"Have you texted your mom?" Adrien asked. He glanced around again, suddenly feeling the weight of a thousand invisible eyes on him. "She's keeping an eye on my mom, right? Maybe she could text us and keep us updated on where my mom is, so we can avoid that area."

"Oh, I'll do that!" Marinette pulled out her phone and texted her mother. Adrien pulled out his own phone and found that Nathalie had just texted him, confirming that their flight had been pushed back another hour, making it two and a half hours late. He made a face and texted her back to let her know that he had gotten the message.

"Another delay, this time an hour."

Marinette groaned loudly. " _Really?_ I'm starting to think that the universe is against us. How are we meant to stay hidden from your mom for-" she paused, quickly calculating on her fingers- "another hour and a half, excluding boarding time?"

Adrien just shook his head. Maybe they would have to hide in another terminal- except did this place even _have_ another terminal? It would probably be safer to not go _too_ far while exploring, just in case there was some security checkpoint that they would have to go through if they wandered too far.

"Okay, so what's the plan?" Marinette asked, pulling Adrien over to the wall so that they would be well out of the way of all of the travelers bustling past. "Go to the farthest points of the terminal? See if we can find somewhere else to hang out? Hide in the bathrooms for two hours?"

"That last one is last resort only," Adrien said immediately. He tugged on the brim of his cap, hoping that he wasn't dislodging any of his hair. "Uh, lemme think. My mom would probably head for the food court first, if I'm remembering right. She'll probably be trying to find something familiar to eat. And then I'm guessing that she'll be doing the same thing that we are with window shopping, because she doesn't exactly have a book to read. Not unless she borrowed some money to buy one."

"I think I heard Chloe saying something about maybe giving her some spending money to make the trip back easier," Marinette agreed. "And Nathalie was going to wire some money, remember? So your mom _might_ settle down at the gate and read there or something."

Adrien made a face. He wasn't so certain. "Maybe, maybe not. She's going to be impatient to get home, so that'll make her more prone to wandering. I'd say that the hour, maybe hour and a half before her flight leaves, _then_ she'll be parked at the gate waiting to leave. But we have several hours before that, and we _should_ be leaving before that, too."

"So we should be okay to keep window shopping for a bit?" Marinette asked, just to be sure.

"We could probably even do some actual shopping too," Adrien pointed out. "If there's anything decent at a decent price."

Marinette had to laugh. "Adrien, nothing in an airport is a decent price. They know that we're a captive audience and they jack the prices up."

" _Still_."

So they did. Adrien modeled sunglasses in one shop, posing with increasingly ridiculous sunglasses for a few minutes until a few teenage girls started watching. They headed out of the shop after making sure that the sunglasses were put back nicely on the rack, moving to one of the shops much further down the hallway.

Sometimes it was a pain to be famous. Maybe the girls _hadn't_ recognized him and were only watching because he looked different or because they were goofing around, but Adrien couldn't take that chance. If his photo showed up on the internet and his mom _happened_ to see it- now that she had time and access to the terminal computers, it was possible that she would look up his name to see what he had been up to- then they would be in trouble.

The two of them headed into a store primarily selling souvenir clothes. T-shirts hung from racks and sweatshirts were piled up on tables, next to little decorative purses and jewelry on display stands. Most of the stuff was far too tourist-y for Adrien to even consider, but some of it wasn't so bad.

" _Shit_ ," Marinette hissed, making Adrien's head swing towards her in confusion. Before he had time to ask what was wrong, she was shoving his shoulder, pushing him down behind the display stand, rattling some of the jewelry as they dropped down. Adrien immediately obeyed, dropping into a crouch and looking to Marinette for instruction.

"Your mom just came in," Marinette hissed, looking panicked. She peered over the top of the stand and then dropped back down. "Shoot, shoot, shoot, she's wandering this way- _mmph!_ "

"Don't talk!" Tikki scolded quietly, only just sticking her head out from one of Marinette's pigtails. "She's more likely to pick up any French she hears and then she'll come investigate."

Adrien and Marinette both nodded in understanding. Marinette popped up slightly again to track Mrs. Agreste's progress around the store, and Adrien took the time to glance around at the rest of the store, hoping to find an escape route.

He spotted several people staring at them in confusion. _Lovely_. He also spotted a changing room, not far away. It was open, and the curtain extended down to the floor.

"She's looking in the opposite direction," Marinette hissed in his ear. "Inspecting the sweatshirts."

Adrien nodded and jerked his head at the dressing room. Marinette caught his meeting immediately, and with one last glance to make sure that his mother wasn't paying attention, they dashed for it and shot inside.

"I really hope that the staff don't think that we're making out in here and come over to drag us out in front of your mom," Marinette whispered once the curtain had settled. "That would be _so_ embarrassing."

Adrien nodded, keeping an eye on Tikki as she floated upwards to watch the shop. She didn't look alarmed, so maybe they had gotten lucky. He and Marinette fell quiet as they waited, since any hint of French might catch his mom's attention. Finally, after nearly ten minutes of anxious waiting, Tikki signaled the all-clear. Adrien and Marinette let out twin sighs of relief, opening the curtain and stepping out.

Only to be greeted by the not-so-amused expression of one of the store's employees.

Adrien gulped, trying not to be _too_ obvious about it as he glanced around the store, just in case his mom was still around. Unless she was hidden behind one of the racks of shirts, she had left. When he looked back to the employee, they looked even more suspicious.

"Were you hiding from your mother?" he asked, planting his hands on his hips. He glanced out of the shop, towards the bustling airport corridor. "If so, I'm going to have to call her back and bring you to security-"

"No! It's, uh- we're supposed to stay hidden from her, because there's a surprise party!" Adrien blurted out, his mind racing to find the right words and an excuse for their actions all at once. He was pretty sure that some of his tenses were wrong. "And our flight was delayed. But if she sees us, then she'll know that there's a surprise party. So we had to hide."

The employee looked somewhat bemused. "You are traveling by plane to another country... for a surprise party?"

Adrien tried not to wilt. As far as excuses went, his was- well, it was pretty weak. "Well, she knows that there's a party with some of her friends in the other country for her, uh..." He scrambled for a few seconds to find the right word. "Her birthday! And we said that we would, uh, party once she got back, but we will be there instead?" He offered up a strained smile, hoping that all of his words were correct.

" _Strange_." Still, the employee shrugged. Clearly they weren't paid enough to really care about what antics their customers were up to, as long as there was no shoplifting going on. "Good luck with your surprise party, then, and with hiding."

"Thanks!"

With the employee appeased, Adrien and Marinette left the store warily, glancing around. Mrs. Agreste's blond hair immediately caught their attention from several storefronts down.

"Let's go in the opposite direction," Marinette suggested. "The far end of the terminal. We have enough time for it."

"You can say _that_ again." Adrien followed his girlfriend, glancing back occasionally to make sure that his mom hadn't switched directions. "Come on. Maybe we can avoid her completely for the rest of our layover."

Somehow Adrien knew deep down inside that that wasn't going to happen.

 

* * *

 

Sabine Cheng was humming happily to herself as she kept an eye on Emilie Agreste in the Chengdu airport. Their plan had succeeded- with a bit of overnight driving, they had managed to bundle Adrien and Marinette off on the earlier flight, and now the two teens were safely in the air on their way back to Paris, where they would arrive several hours before she and Mrs. Agreste did. That would give them plenty of time to shower and change and decide if Marinette wanted to be there for the mother-son reunion or not. They might even sneak in a nap, which, well- Sabine could use a nap herself, truthfully. The rush from the magically-charged tea that she had had both to stay up all night driving and to wake herself up for the airport was wearing off. But she had to stay awake until both she and Mrs. Agreste had boarded their second and final flight.

After that? She would have to ask her seatmates to wake her up for meals, of course, but she was going to be pretty dead to the world for a bit. Exhaustion had settled in her bones and it would probably take a few days of rest to recover from the grueling trip.

It would be nice to be home, to be able to sleep next to her husband and make more familiar meals and to have _fresh_ food to choose from and all of her kitchen appliances and tools to cook with. Sabine was looking forward to not hiking, and being able to have hot water to shower and a proper range to cook on and an actual _bed_ to sleep on.

She had been happy to help on the quest to find the Miraculous temple and rescue Adrien's mother, but it had been a long, _long_ trip, a long time without the comforts of home, and she was glad that it was over.

Emilie headed for the food court as soon as they got off of the plane, and Sabine followed. She was careful to stay a decent distance back, so that there would be less chance of Emilie noticing her enough to recognize her when they were back in Paris. Nooroo stirred in her pocket as she got closer to the shops, clearly interested in the smell of food.

"Soon," Sabine promised under her breath, hoping that the kwami could hear her in the noisy airport. She kept one eye on Emilie as she headed for a different food store, but it didn't seem entirely necessary. She didn't seem particularly inclined to dash off or anything- not that they thought she _would_ , necessarily, but they wanted to make sure that she got back to Paris safely and wasn't going to be targeted for being Hawkmoth's wife- and, like Sabine, was simply killing time before their flight.

As she waited in line, Sabine checked her watch. Adrien and Marinette would be in the air by now, but only just. Hopefully Adrien wasn't feeling too sick from taking off. She had wanted to send them with little packets of tea- they had been gifted some _lovely_ loose-leaf tea, after all- but, well. It was better for them to _not_ be traveling with _anything_ that Customs might question. They should be able to get through Customs in Paris without a problem, and then the only thing that they would have to worry about would be accidentally mentioning the trip in front of Mrs. Agreste or Mrs. Agreste looking up Adrien online and learning that he had been spotted at the airport.

Sabine was willing to bet that Mrs. Agreste would be so relieved to get home to Adrien and hear about what he had been up to in the past year from Adrien himself that it wouldn't even occur to her to look her son up on social media. It was what she would do in Emilie's place, after all, and they had Nathalie to redirect her as well, if needed.

Neither woman was in any particular hurry to finish her meal. Sabine let herself enjoy the food one bite at a time. Even if it wasn't up to homemade quality, it was nice to have something that they hadn't been able to eat on the trail.

From there, Emilie moved from store to store, idly browsing. She bought a few things- snacks, and a few trinkets that Sabine assumed were for Adrien- and then continued meandering. Sabine tried not to groan _too_ loudly, knowing that it would just draw unwanted attention to her, but she was _exhausted._ She just wanted to sit down for a bit, but maybe it was for the better that Emilie was walking around so that Sabine _couldn't_ sit down and accidentally fall asleep.

How many more hours of this did she had to endure? Three? Four? She should have brought more of that fabulous tea. Instead, she had to content herself with caffeinated soda, hoping that it would at least keep her on her feet and looking moderately alive until she could board. She did a little browsing of her own through the stores, but had to remember to keep an eye on Emilie.

While Emilie browsed through a rack of magazines, Sabine paused nearby, pretending to scan a flight schedule board. She glanced down the list, idly noticing that there was one flight that had been delayed by several hours already.

Sabine shuddered at the thought. Loads of people were probably going to be missing their connecting flights, and even those who weren't connecting were still having several hours added on to their travel time. Hopefully most of them didn't have long layovers to begin with, and no fussy children to take care of. Her flight was on time, which was nice.

Before Sabine could look back at the delayed flight and see where it was bound, just out of curiosity, Emilie was off again, headed for yet another store. Sabine sighed- she would _really_ much rather find their gate and sit down, but she had to make sure that Adrien's mom got home safely and that meant following her around until they got through the Paris airport. She muffled a sigh and headed off, doing her best to not attract Emilie's attention at all.

In Sabine's purse, her phone sat, turned off and silent, the messages from her daughter and Adrien sitting unread.

 

* * *

 

Two hours after Mrs. Agreste landed, Adrien and Marinette decided that the best way to keep her from accidentally sneaking up on them was to follow _her_ around. Not too closely- they were much, _much_ further back than Mrs. Cheng- but just to make sure that they knew where _she_ was, especially now that their flight was going to be a grand total of just over _four_ hours late.

They very quickly came to the conclusion that it was not a particularly good idea.

"Can she pick one direction and _stick_ with it?" Marinette asked in exasperation, pulling her own hastily-bought baseball cap lower over her eyes. She had let her hair down instead of keeping it in her signature pigtails, to keep the chance that she would be recognized as low as possible. "She's going to notice us soon, I swear."

Adrien just shook his head, glancing towards his mom. She hadn't picked one direction and stuck with it, going back and forth as she browsed aimlessly. He and Marinette had to keep dodging into doorways and side hallways. They had even both bought sunglasses, though Adrien was pretty sure that _that_ addition to their outfits made them look like asshole American tourists who couldn't bear to part with their sunglasses indoors. But it would keep his mom (and anyone else who might recognize him) from recognizing his face as easily, and that was what was important.

As it turned out, potential recognition by fans and/or Mrs. Agreste wasn't their only problem. Their slightly out-of-place outfits and strange behavior (because admittedly, dodging into stores and behind walls and backtracking often whenever Mrs. Agreste changed direction wasn't _normal)_ had caught a security guard's attention.

Which in turn meant that Adrien had to try to explain that _no_ , they weren't trying to hide from anyone, sir, honest. This time, he decided to claim that on long layovers, he liked to pretend that he was a spy and follow one certain person around without them noticing him and this time, he had dragged his girlfriend into it. The security guard had given them an unimpressed look, but since his mom wasn't looking around like she had lost someone, the man finally decided that they must be telling the truth and sent them off with the instruction to not do that anymore, because it was distracting to the people who were trying to keep the airport safe.

They were fine with that. After all, they were now down to an hour and a half before departure and it would probably be a good idea to go settle in at their gate. Mrs. Agreste had pretty much been everywhere _but_ there, anyway, and they would have a better choice of seats if they went to their gate now rather than later.

Well. _Maybe_. Everyone on their flight would have been at the airport for ages now and might have decided to sit instead of wandering like they had. But if they waited, then it was possible that the only seats left would be the ones closest to Mrs. Agreste's gate. The two of them went by the food court again first- there was no point in getting on the plane hungry, of course- and then they brought their purchases with them to the gate, after making sure that it hadn't been moved. Thankfully, there were still some seats open. They selected a pair of open seats closest to the gate check-in, with their backs to the wall so that they could keep an eye on the people around them. Adrien sat closer to the check-in, so that he could theoretically hide behind Marinette should the need arise.

"My mom still hasn't responded to any of my texts," Marinette reported, checking her phone with a frown before sliding it back into her pocket. She had checked periodically as they hid from Mrs. Agreste, and each time there had been nothing from her mom. "I bet that she thinks that we're in the air, so she didn't even turn it on. My dad has tried texting her, too, and got nothing."

Adrien nodded distractedly, checking his own phone. "Nathalie says that we should be arriving about half an hour before my mom's flight. So in _theory_ we should be able to make it home before her."

Marinette winced. Considering how many times their flight had been delayed, _in theory_ wasn't great. And on top of that, they would have to claim their luggage. Mrs. Agreste had no luggage besides her carry-on duffle bag, and would be able to go directly from the gate to the waiting car.

"We'll probably have to call a taxi, though," Adrien added, consulting his phone as it lit up with another text. "Because my mom specifically requested that the Gorilla pick her up, so she'll be expecting him to be waiting for her at the door and he can't get from the airport, home, and back in less than half an hour."

Marinette had to wince at that. Taxis were _expensive_. Still, Adrien's family had a private driver, which was bound to be even more expensive. It was very, very likely that the cost of a taxi- even one from as far out as the airport- wouldn't faze them at all.

Besides, cost was hardly the important thing. They _had_ to keep their trip secret from Mrs. Agreste.

Thankfully the plane time seemed set now that the inbound flight was solidly under way, so they wouldn't have to worry about another delay that would lead to them returning later than Mrs. Agreste. Still, Marinette kept a watchful eye on the screen over the check-in to make sure that it didn't change again. If it did...

Well, maybe Nathalie would be able to come up with an excuse as to why Adrien wasn't at home when his mom arrived. Maybe they could fake an emergency at the bakery that would buy them enough time...unless Mrs. Agreste then made an immediate beeline to the bakery to see her son, which seemed entirely probable.

"Marinette!" Adrien hissed suddenly, grabbing her shoulder. He jutted his chin towards the corridor. "She's here!"

Marinette's head shot up and she peered over her sunglasses to see Mrs. Agreste's familiar blond ponytail wandering past at the edge of the walkway. She consulted her ticket, then nodded and headed into the seating area for the next gate over. Marinette's eyes followed her, and she was startled to see that Mrs. Agreste and her mom weren't two gates away. Their gates' _numbers_ differed by two, and since even-numbered gates were on one side and odd-numbered ones were on the other side, that meant that the two Paris-bound gates were side by side.

 _Crud_.

Adrien's head dropped back against the wall as he groaned. "We still have an _hour._ How are we supposed to stay hidden for that long?"

"Boarding usually starts half an hour before takeoff," Marinette reminded him. "So we only have to hide for a little over half an hour- oh, crud, not _that_ seat!" Mrs. Agreste had settled into a seat that faced them, almost directly in their line of sight if they looked straight forward. If she looked up, she would be looking right at them. They _did_ have their disguises- if the baseball hats and sunglasses could be called that- but would that really be enough?

Just then, their answer came in the form of a heavily pregnant woman who was clearly looking for a seat. With their flight time drawing steadily nearer, the area had filled in and there weren't any open seats. The two of them exchanged a look, and then Adrien was up and offering the woman his seat with a smile. She took it with a thankful look, and Adrien settled on the floor near Marinette's feet, strategically out of sight of his mother. One hand curled around her calf, and his cheek rested against her knee.

"I see my mom," Marinette told him quietly, aware that there were probably quite a few French-speakers around them. After all, the flight _was_ Paris-bound. "She still hasn't seen us."

Adrien laughed. "Maybe we should have approached her while we were following her and my mom around. Or you could have, at least. And I could have hidden in the bathroom while you did that."

"Oh, that would have been a good idea. She could have turned her phone on and then given us a heads-up when your mom was heading from one area to another so we could stop getting chased around by them." Marinette glanced over at Mrs. Agreste. She was glancing around the area, clearly impatient to get on the plane already. Marinette glanced away when Mrs. Agreste looked her way, hoping that she would pay her no mind and that the baseball cap would hide her face. When she looked back, Mrs. Agreste was fiddling with a book in her lap.

Hopefully she hadn't had the chance to Adrien up online at any of the airport computer kiosks, or if she _had_ , then hopefully people hadn't posted anything about Adrien being at the airport. Marinette glanced at Mrs. Agreste one more time, just to make sure that she wasn't moving around or anything, and then pulled her own phone out again, connecting it to the airport's internet before Googling Adrien's name.

Unsurprisingly, pretty much all of the top stories were ones about Gabriel Agreste and his trial and they just happened to mention Adrien attending the trial. There were a couple that mentioned the sudden lack of sightings of Adrien after Mr. Agreste's sentencing, and Marinette opened those. Thankfully the most that those articles said was that there were rumors of Adrien being spotted at the airport, but nothing had been confirmed.

Apparently she and her mom had managed to keep people far enough away from Adrien that they couldn't snap a good enough picture that would have confirmed the rumors. As it was, they could be brushed off as lies that people made up in order to make it sound like Adrien was fleeing Paris in shame. Which really didn't make sense, because he had known about his father being Hawkmoth for ages before the sentencing, but when did tabloids and slanderers care about logic?

In the next gate over, their plane had just pulled up and was disembarking. Marinette put her phone down and leaned forwards, looking out the window. Their plane was at the gate as well, but it must have disembarked before she and Adrien arrived. A team of people were refueling the giant plane, while others finished taking the previous flight's luggage out. More carts of luggage sat nearby, presumably the set of luggage from the next set of passengers, ready to be put on as soon as they were certain that everything else was out.

"I think I can see our bags," Adrien commented, rolling up on his toes in his crouch and resting his chin on her knees as he peered out the window as well. He pointed. "There, the two bags on top."

Marinette looked. Sure enough, their backpacking bags were on the top of the pile on one of the carts in line to be loaded.

"Almost there," Adrien murmured after a minute. "We'll start boarding, and then we're home free."

Marinette made a bit of a face at that. They would only be arriving half an hour before Mr. Agreste, assuming that the planes flew at the same speed and took the same route (which they most likely would). That meant that they really didn't have a whole lot of wriggle room for delays or errors. If Adrien got sick when they landed, for example, or if the other plane was newer or a different model and could fly faster, shortening the difference between arrival times to only fifteen minutes, or if their taxi got stuck in traffic but the Gorilla managed not to...

They would figure it out. They _had_ to.

The loudspeakers crackled, and an announcement rang out. Once it was finished, it repeated, only in French.

_"Ladies and gentlemen, flight 868 with service to Paris is now boarding out of gate twenty-two! We apologize for the delays and thank you for your patience. Flight 868 to Paris, now boarding those in need of assistance and families with young children. Once again, that's flight 868 to Paris, currently pre-boarding. Thank you."_

Across the rows of seats, Marinette saw her mom's head fly up in surprise and she turned to stare at the other Paris flight, her eyes flicking over the passengers that had started getting up, clustering around waiting for their boarding group to be called. She spotted Marinette and her eyes went even wider. All Marinette could do was grimace and shrug.

" _Flight 868 to Paris, now boarding first class! First class passengers can now board."_

"What group are we in?" Adrien wanted to know, sliding back up into the now-vacant seat next to Marinette as the pregnant woman got up and headed for the desk. He kept his head down and his face hidden. "Will we be getting on soon?"

Marinette pulled out her ticket and consulted it. "Group four. I think first class is also called zone one."

" _Flight 868 to Paris out of gate 22, now boarding zones one and two!"_

"And once they get to zone three, that's a _lot_ of people." Marinette sat back, glad that the line of boarding passengers was blocking Mrs. Agreste's view of them. "It'll take the longest so far, and then zone four will be just as bad."

"But then we'll _definitely_ be out of my mom's sight," Adrien finished. He pulled his backpack up onto his lap so that the kids racing up and down the boarding line wouldn't trip over it. "So close..."

"We'll have to take the sunglasses off for boarding," Marinette said as the line of zone 2 passengers grew steadily shorter. "And maybe the hats too, I don't know. For ID purposes."

Adrien winced. "Oh, I hope not. The sunglasses? Fine. And maybe the blond wouldn't stick out _quite_ so much at this gate, but, uh..."

"You have a very distinct hairstyle," Marinette finished. "And it looks a bit funny pinned up right now."

"I'm gonna have to fix it on the plane," Adrien said, running a hand over his hat reflexively. "Otherwise I won't have the time and it'll be a mess when I meet my mom."

" _Flight 868 to Paris out of gate 22, now boarding zones one through three. Zones one through three for flight 868 to Pairs."_

Adrien and Marinette watched as a huge chunk of the seated travelers got up, swarming into a rough line. There were a _lot_ of them, and Marinette could feel Adrien getting fidgety next to her, clearly anxious to get onto the plane. She reached over, resting a hand on his knee and giving it a gentle squeeze. He rested his own hand over hers, sending her a small smile.

Several minutes later, it was their turn to board.

_"Flight 868 to Paris out of gate 22, now boarding zones one through four-"_

Adrien was out of his seat like a shot, zipping into line. Marinette had to gather up her things in a hurry and give the area a quick scan to make sure they weren't leaving anything behind before jogging after Adrien. The line worked its way forward, with Marinette always next to Adrien to try to keep him hidden from his mom.

Considering that she was nearly a head shorter than him, her use as a means of blocking Adrien from view was questionable at best.

"Almost there," Marinette said quietly, pulling off her sunglasses and making sure that her passport was open to the right page, her plane ticket tucked inside. "Adrien, you first."

The attendant looked from Adrien's passport to his face, nodded, scanned the ticket, and then he was through. Marinette was quick to follow.

And then they were on the plane.

"Oh, I've got so many nerves in my stomach from that," Adrien said with a small laugh as they slid into their seats, tucking their bags under the seats in front of them. "Either I'm not even going to register that we're taking off because I still have so much adrenaline running through my system, or I'm _definitely_ going to get sick. There's no in-between."

Marinette let out a little laugh. "Let's hope it's the former," she said, reaching over to help Adrien get his hair loose from its tightly pinned state. It was a bit crimped as it came free. "Just focus on the fact that now, we'll be in the air and actually moving."

"Yeah, there's that." Adrien glanced through the small window at the airport, where his mom still sat. "And when I get home, my mom won't be long to follow, and I'll get to hug her for the first time in a year."

Marinette could only smile and hug Adrien, resting her cheek against his shoulder.

They just had to get through this last stretch of their journey successfully, and then Adrien could get his mom back properly. Marinette couldn't wait.

 

* * *

 

After nearly twelve hours in the air, fitfully napping in the uncomfortable seats, Adrien and Marinette were more than ready for the flight to be over. They were practically sitting on the edges of their seats as the plane landed and they taxied, heading towards their gate to disembark. Adrien's hair had gotten tucked back under the hat, but they had decided that it wouldn't be smart to pin it up again. After all, he would likely have to take his hat off during Customs, and it would look funny for it to be pinned up every which way.

"I wish we could have gotten seats closer to the front," Adrien told Marinette as they impatiently waited for the man taking the aisle seat to get up and move out of the way. "We're practically going to be the last ones off. And if my mom is one of the first people off of her flight..."

Marinette nodded, her eyes locked on the slow-moving people making their way up the aisle towards the door. "It's going to be tight."

Finally, _finally_ it was their turn to get up and head out. They pulled their backpacks out from under the seats and headed forward, trying to not look like they were about to break into a run.

Well, for the most part.

"Adrien, your legs are too long for me to keep up when you powerwalk!" Marinette panted, half-jogging to keep up. "Holy _crud_ -"

"There's no time to waste, my mom's flight lands in, like, fifteen minutes!" Adrien's pace sped up more. "I just want to get enough space between us."

Marinette jogged faster.

They came to an abrupt halt in the customs area. The lines were long, and they craned their necks to see where to go. There seemed to be different lines, and they were labeled based on who had to go in each.

"The green lines are pretty much for if we said no to everything on the customs form," Marinette said, eyes scanning the signs. "Yellow is for if we handled livestock and some other stuff, red is for fresh fruits and vegetables, weapons, et cetera. Green line is us, I think."

"There's a lot of people in the other lines, too," Adrien commented as they got in the longest of the lines, glancing over at the other sections. "And they're moving pretty slowly."

Marinette looked over as well. "I bet that's because they get questioned more, and their bags might get inspected. They shouldn't bother us too much, though."

Their line moved forward, and Adrien and Marinette moved with it. Marinette periodically peered back, watching newcomers come into the room as other flights landed. She hadn't spotted Mrs. Agreste, though, so maybe they were still good.

"I wonder what the dogs are for," Adrien said, suddenly catching Marinette's attention. He pointed to the orange-vested dog accompanying a Customs security officer. "Do you know?"

"Maybe they're sniffing for drugs?" Marinette suggested. "People wouldn't admit to having those, so they would have to search."

"Huh." Adrien turned to watch the dog work its way through the line, sniffing the air and dodging children's hands. "That makes sense, I guess."

Marinette nodded, sparing the dogs another glance before turning to see if Mrs. Agreste was there yet. She had the advantage of _not_ having any baggage to claim once past Customs, which would probably cut their thirty-minute advantage- twenty-minute advantage now, at most- in half again.

"Sir? What is in your backpack?"

Startled, Marinette looked back at Adrien. One of the security dogs was sniffing intently at his backpack while Adrien looked supremely puzzled and borderline panicked, trying to turn out of the way. "I- uh-"

"Any fresh fruits or vegetables?" the officer continued. "Or dairy products?"

At last, Marinette caught sight of the words on the tiny dog vest. It wasn't a drug dog. It was a _food_ dog.

Oh, _no_. She had made Adrien all panicked for nothing.

"I don't think there's any food in there now," Adrien said, having recovered faster than Marinette from the whiplash of new information. He pulled the backpack off, digging through it. "I _had_ been carrying cheese in here at one point, though, and some of it got a little smashed in the bottom, but I thought I got it all cleaned out and- oh, _phew._ I just got a whiff of it."

Marinette caught sight of a hidden Plagg, who was looking guilty. There was most definitely no cheese crumbs in the backpack anymore- Plagg would have seen to that- but it was technically his fault that the backpack smelled.

"I'm going to have to ask you to move over to the red line for further inspection," the officer told Adrien before he could completely unpack his backpack. "Just switch the checkmark on your customs card to say yes for fresh food and dairy and explain there."

Adrien gave Marinette a panicked look but repacked his bag and moved. Marinette made to follow, but the officer stopped her.

"You should stay in this line. Too many people in the other lines will just slow them down." He nodded towards the desks that she was approaching. "And you're close to the front. You can wait for your friend on the other side."

Meekly, Marinette complied. She glanced back towards Adrien, who had joined the back of the red line. Sure, that line _was_ shorter than the green line, but they had seen how it got frequently held up as officers confiscated restricted items or inspected paperwork for clearance. Marinette was still looking back when she went through, getting cleared quickly enough after claiming that she had spent the time in China with family. Once through, she headed to the far wall to wait for Adrien who, while no longer the last person in the red line, was still not at the front.

And then she spotted Mrs. Agreste.

Marinette's blood turned to ice as she tried to edge out of Mrs. Agreste's sight, tugging her hair out of her pigtails again. Mrs. Agreste didn't seem to be looking around a lot- which was good, because Adrien only had his baseball cap on and not the sunglasses- but still. Once she got bored with waiting in line...

Marinette gulped. They were so close! It would be _completely_ unfair for them to get caught _now_ , now that they were back in Paris and so close to being home. She tried to catch Adrien's eye, but he had spotted his mom as well and was keeping his head down, absent-mindedly tucking loose strands of hair under his hat.

Both Agrestes moved forward in their respective lines, Mrs. Agreste faster than Adrien. Marinette hoped that she would be held up at the desk- after all, she _had_ been listed as missing for a year- but there was no such luck. The Customs person talked to her for maybe a minute longer than an average person, and then she was through.

Adrien was busy unpacking his entire backpack under another official's watchful gaze. Once it was empty, the official glanced inside of the backpack, nodded, and waved Adrien through. He re-packed in a flash and headed towards her, glancing around warily as he did.

"Your mom already went out," Marinette told him, and he groaned. "Just a moment ago. We'll have to book it and come up with a plan while we get our luggage. I don't know if we'll be able to get away with taking a taxi back."

"What other options do we _have?_ " Adrien asked as they powerwalked/jogged down the hallway towards baggage claim.

Marinette could only shake her head. "I don't know. But we're Ladybug and Chat Noir, so surely we can figure something out- oh!" She clutched at his arm. "We're _Ladybug and Chat Noir_. We're close enough to the city- we can cut cross-country and go as fast as we can to your house. If the Gorilla gets stuck in traffic-"

"He will if he can," Adrien said immediately. "He knows that he needs to stall. So if there's a route home that has some crazy traffic jam, he'll go that way."

"Still, we shouldn't waste any time," Marinette decided, speeding up her jog. "Let's go grab our luggage, and then we can go find a place to transform."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One chapter left! I also have a bunch of outtakes for this universe left to post, but all (with the exception of one) are set post-trip.
> 
> Update on the internet thing: FINALLY. Finally I've found somewhere that I can get internet on a regular basis. I didn't expect it to take this long (I thought I would be able to get internet at my grandma's church, but they no longer post the password, then I tried the library but they block AO3 because clearly it's adult and scary (but not tumblr??) and then I tried using an hour of complimentary xfinity wifi but....that failed), but also my grandma has kept me busy when I'm not running off to work with birds. Hopefully I can figure out a schedule of sorts going forward.


	22. Chapter 22

Emilie Agreste was the first person up when the seatbelt sign went off at the gate in Paris. Her aisle seat meant that she didn't have to wait for anyone else to get up, and then she was one of the first people off the plane.

Traveling light had its merits, she had to admit. She didn't have to try to wait to wrestle anything out of the overhead bins, since she only had her Ladybug-patterned duffle bag with her. It contained two changes of clothes, the paperwork that the lovely officers in Lhasa had gotten for her, a bag of toiletries, the money that Nathalie had had wired to her, a temporary phone with Nathalie's and Gerald's phone numbers plugged in (also courtesy of Nathalie's arrangements; unfortunately, it was a _very_ basic phone, and it didn't have Adrien's number at all) and the two books that she had purchased at the airport. The bag bounced against Emilie's leg as she hurried thought the Paris airport, taking the fastest route she could find towards Customs. Once she got through, she wouldn't even have to wait for any luggage to arrive before heading right for the waiting cars, where Gerald would be waiting with the car.

Then she could go home and see her son and actually get to catch up with him. Emilie couldn't deny that she was a bit worried about Adrien, because if the magazine articles that she had deigned to read about her son were correct, Adrien hadn't really been seen out and about since Gabriel's sentencing.

Except now that she thought about it- how was that possible? Nathalie had said that Adrien was doing just fine, and he was out and about with his girlfriend and taking her on dates. It was more likely that Adrien was trying to avoid the nosy reporters- and if they dared approach her to try to harass her for an interview, they _would_ regret it- and so they were retaliating by making it sound like Adrien was ashamed to be seen out in public.

She would set them straight. She and Adrien would go out on walks every day, if they could, to catch up and have treats from the cafes around the city, and so she could meet the friends that Adrien had made. They would show the world that they were Agrestes and would not hide away just because Gabriel made a terrible decision.

(No, that wasn't right. He didn't make _one_ bad decision. Once couldn't become a supervillain with only _one_ bad decision. It was a whole pile of bad decisions, one after another, and to make it sound like _only_ one terrible decision was minimizing it.)

As Emilie reached the end of the hallway and turned to head straight for Customs, she spotted another gate, where it was clear the plane had just finished disembarking. She recognized the plane as the other Chengdu plane bound for Paris, the one that had been delayed for hours on end and had only left just as her plane started boarding. Emilie couldn't deny that she was glad to not have been on that plane, because she would have been bursting with impatience with each delay. It was better to be on the flight that was later to leave to start with and that left right on time.

Once Emilie had joined the queue to go through Customs, she pulled out her phone and turned it on, waiting impatiently for it to finish starting up before sending off a text to both Nathalie and Gerald, telling them that she had arrived and was waiting to go through Customs. It probably wasn't necessary- Nathalie no doubt knew exactly when the plane touched down to the minute already- but it was polite, just in case she was distracted at home.

Surprisingly enough, getting through Customs was a breeze, even thought she had been listed as missing for a year. Nathalie had clearly done her work well, presumably getting a police report dismissing her case even without Mrs. Agreste being there in person. Emilie was sure that there had been all sorts of tangles in the case, since it was clear from the arrest of her husband that her disappearance was mired in magic. But if the superheroes mentioned to the police before leaving that they were looking for her, maybe, then perhaps the paperwork had gone more smoothly.

(That didn't mean that she didn't get strange looks when she had to explain that _yes_ , she was coming home from another country after over a year with only a shoulder bag. But as soon as they looked at her last name again, all questions were swallowed and she was waved through.)

Emilie left the Customs area, following the other travelers towards baggage claim. She only spared the area a glance before heading to the doors. Just outside, she spotted the familiar sleek grey car with Gerald sitting almost directly outside of the door. He was frowning down at his phone, looking concerned about something. She tapped on the car door and he looked up, smiling widely and hopping out to open the car door for her.

(That was completely unnecessary, of course- she could open her own door- but it was kind of him.)

Once she was settled, Gerald pulled smoothly away from the curb, carefully steering out of the airport area. Emilie watched as the familiar cityscape went by.

It was strange, really. She had been gone for over a year, but to her it had felt not much longer than usual. Logically, she should feel no more anxious to get home than she would on any of her other trips to Tibet, since for _her_ it hadn't been any longer, but she _was_. Emilie wanted nothing more than to see Adrien again.

Maybe it was just because she knew how anxious and worried he must have been about her, and then he had been alone without her for his father's arrest, and of course Gabriel more than likely had been a less than fabulous parent during that year. She wanted to check in on Adrien more than anything, even if she was exhausted from the trip.

Airplane seats were _far_ too uncomfortable to do any good sleeping in, and she had been too anxious about getting home to actually drop off to sleep properly. There had been a few minutes here and there where she dropped off- maybe even a solid hour- but she was going to sleep like a rock once she had seen Adrien and had gotten to talk to him for a bit.

Brake lights glowed ahead, and Emilie groaned as the car slowed down in the rush-hour traffic. Gerald looked a bit frustrated as well as they inched forward, well below the speed limit.

Emilie swallowed the urge to ask if he was _sure_ that there wasn't a faster route home. Gerald was _fantastic_ at his job, and if there was a faster route, they would already be on it.

She would just have to be patient. She would be home soon, and that was all that mattered.

 

* * *

 

Thankfully their luggage didn't take long to come. That was pretty much the only thing that had gone right for them on the trip back, really.

"I saw the Gorilla's car pull out," Adrien told Marinette as they searched for a good spot to transform. "I would text Nathalie about where we are, but we don't have the time. He can only delay so long."

Marinette only nodded, trying not to stagger under the weight of her backpacking bag as they headed for an out-of-the-way section of the parking garage. Once they got there, she glanced around, kneeling behind a large car.

"There aren't any cameras," Tikki reported, phasing out through Marinette's backpack. "Go ahead and transform!"

" _Transform me!_ "

Seconds after the last of the sparkles of magic faded from the air, Ladybug and Chat Noir glanced down at the backpacking bags that they had set down next to themselves and groaned.

"We should have transformed with those on and then put the small backpacks on over our costumes," Ladybug said, running a hand over her hair. It had magically gone back to pigtails with the transformation. "But if we de-transform and re-transform..."

Adrien shook his head. "The kwamis haven't re-charged in a while, though. I don't know if they would be able to do that and then keep up the transformation all the way home. We just need to carry these."

Ladybug winced, but they had no time to try to find any food for Tikki and Plagg. She and Chat Noir hurried to pull their backpacks on, and then they were flinging themselves off of the parking ramp.

"Oh, gosh, I can't wait until we get to proper _city_ again," Ladybug gasped as she had to lash her yo-yo out to bridge the gap between the airport buildings and the closest structure. "There's almost nothing out here!"

"Do you need a hand, my Lady?" Chat Noir called over his shoulder. "I could try piggybacking you until we get a bit further."

Ladybug just shook her head. It would be too hard to pull that off with their backpacking packs in the way. "I'll manage. You go ahead, you need to get home. I can be slower."

Chat Noir _whined_. "I'll get lost! I don't know the city as well as you do!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Ladybug snagged the railing on a bridge and swung under, skimming over some of the driving cars. She could reach a building after that, and then a bridge.

Bridge, building, another building, under a bridge, snag a highway light and swing from _that_.. The heavy, unwieldy backpack made her normally easy swings harder, throwing her slightly off and forcing her to compensate. Chat Noir seemed to be having the same problem, and it was slowing them down.

They didn't need to be slowed down, not when they were in such a hurry. It normally took an _hour_ to get from the airport to Adrien's house by car, especially when there was rush hour traffic like there was now. That was a pretty long trip and they had to keep in mind that their kwamis weren't exactly fully charged up.

The street lamps weren't the best for swinging- they weren't _nearly_ high enough for Ladybug to reach her top speed- but they were good enough. The two superheroes sped along the highway, leaving the airport behind as they headed directly for central Paris. The buildings got larger and closer together, and finally she and Chat Noir could take to the rooftops.

"Traffic jam ahead!"

"Oh, we're lucky we didn't try to take the bus or something," Ladybug commented, wincing at the sea of brake lights on the highway. "We'd be stuck."

"A cab would know how to avoid the worst of that," Chat Noir called over to her as they ran. They were actually overtaking cars now, which- well, it was promising. "And the Gorilla would, too."

Ladybug frowned. "Don't you think that he would purposefully take the slowest route possible, if he knows that you haven't gotten home yet? Nathalie would have probably asked him to delay as much as possible to give you a chance to get home."

"That's true," Chat Noir admitted. "Oh, she's gonna be freaking out right now. I'm sure she's tried calling my phone to see what I'm doing, and not being able to get through is going to drive her mad."

"Right, because you would be able to answer if you were on a bus or in a taxi." Ladybug snagged a tall building and whipped past, trying not to accidentally bump into the building on her way past. She would rather that her return to Paris _not_ be announced via an article about her accidentally breaking a window as she swung by. "Hey, we can shortcut here!"

They pressed on, pushing themselves forward to go as fast as possible. It was taking a bit to get used to traveling in the city again, using buildings and bridges and lightposts to swing from instead of trees or rock outcrops. By the time they reached the edge of more familiar landmarks, both Ladybug's earrings and Chat Noir's ring had given a single warning beep.

"I see the Gorilla's car!" Chat Noir yelled, pointing. Sure enough, the sleek grey car was waiting at a stoplight, with Adrien's bodyguard's familiar hulking shape behind the wheel. "She'll be home in ten minutes, tops. Let's go!"

They pushed even harder, making sure to stay out of the car's line of sight. Over a building, across several roads, shortcutting across a park, and finally, _finally_ , the Agreste mansion came into view.

"The second bathroom window," Chat Noir panted as they dropped out of the sky in unison, bounding over one more rooftop before they arrived at his house. "The lock is loose, I should be able to break it."

"Nathalie is going to be so confused," Ladybug managed with a little laugh. "We're going to be coming in via your room instead of the door. Got any good excuses?"

"Honestly? Let's stick as close to the truth as we can. We called up Ladybug and Chat Noir to haul us back across town." Chat Noir landed neatly on his bathroom balcony and held up a claw, inserting it in the side of the window and dragging down. The window popped open with a click and he hopped in, Ladybug close behind. They made a dash for the bedroom, detransforming as they did.

"We both smell like plane," Marinette groaned as they made it partway across the room. "And we're all rumpled, and- Adrien! If your mom comes in here, the backpacks-"

"We'll put them in the closet!"

"The clos-" Marinette skidded to a halt and glanced around, puzzled. "Where _is_ your closet? Adrien, where do you keep your clothes?"

Adrien's laughter was a little breathless as he headed over to his rock climbing wall. "Funny story, actually, but that's for later." He pushed at several of the handholds and then twisted another, and the wall sank back and split apart to reveal a ridiculously large walk-in closet. Adrien grinned at Marinette's expression, then grabbed her big backpack and tossed it in with his.

"Well, I wasn't expecting that," Marinette managed, still wide-eyed, but Adrien wasn't giving her time to recover.

"I need to change out of these clothes so I don't look like I've just spent the last month traveling," Adrien said, snagging a fresh change of clothes off of the shelves. He gave Marinette a quick once-over and then grabbed another shirt to toss to her. "And your shorts look fine, but you look like you slept in that shirt."

"I could just go home," Marinette pointed out, following Adrien back to the bathroom. "You're home, I can swing by tomorrow-"

"Please stay?" Adrien pleaded quietly, pausing mid-reach towards a washcloth in the bathroom to give Marinette kitten eyes for a moment. He grabbed two and passed one to Marinette before shucking his shirt and starting a fast sponge bath. "I'd love to introduce you to my mom properly, and it would be nice to have, y'know..." Adrien trailed off and there was no way that Marinette was going to say no to that expression, not that she had been planning on just going home after Adrien asked her to stay.

So Marinette took the washcloth, got it wet, and shucked her shirt as well so she could wash all of the plane smell off. Next to her, Adrien had finished washing himself down and was frantically changing clothes as fast as he could. Marinette tossed her own washcloth down next to his and pulled on the borrowed shirt. As she did, a thought occurred to her- there was no way Mrs. Agreste would miss the fact that Marinette was wearing Adrien's shirt, and she was sure to come to some not-so-great conclusions about why.

"We'll tell my mom that I accidentally spilled something on your shirt earlier so you're borrowing one of mine," Adrien said, almost as though he was reading her mind. He pulled a fresh stick of deodorant out of one of the cabinets under the sink and applying it in two quick swipes before wiping it off and passing it to Marinette. "If she even notices."

Marinette snorted. "We definitely aren't the same size, Adrien. I doubt it would be the first thing she notices, but I bet she'll notice. Nobody who's lived around fashion would miss something like that."

"True, true."

"They're here!" Tikki squealed, zipping into the bathroom. "The gate just opened!"

Adrien yanked a comb through his hair a few times, tidying it back up into as close of a representation of his normal style as he could. It was a bit on the long side- he was well overdue for a cut- but it would do.

As soon as Marinette's hair was tidied back into her trademark pigtails, they bolted for the door. It slammed open, startling a very frazzled-looking Nathalie waiting at the top of the stairs.

"Hi!" Adrien announced, grinning wildly. "We're home!"

 

* * *

 

Nathalie's Day of Stress had first started when Adrien's flight was delayed. She had known then that the weather conditions causing the delay were unlikely to be resolved very quickly, and so the subsequent delays hadn't surprised her at all.

They had, however, made her very, _very_ worried. She ended up sitting up all night, watching the tracking information for both Adrien and Mrs. Agreste's flights. Nathalie texted Adrien after the first delay, letting him know that his mom was going to be in the same airport as he was for their stopovers and that he was not to let her see him under _any_ circumstances. After Adrien promised to stay out of sight- she hoped that he was kidding about hiding out in the men's bathrooms for the entire stopover- she looked up weather patterns and how likely it was that Adrien's flight would be able to leave before his mom's. She looked up stats on both planes, looking at their flight speeds (they were exactly the same). It wasn't until both Adrien and Mrs. Agreste texted her confirmation that they had successfully boarded that Nathalie finally fell asleep in one of the guest bedrooms, phone alarms on full volume in case anyone needed her.

She didn't sleep well. The two planes had taken off within half an hour of each other, which did not give a whole lot of time for wriggle room.

Nathalie was up and pacing several hours before the two planes even landed. There was no actual work getting done today, that was for sure. She thanked her foresight for having the maids do a thorough cleaning of the house the previous day and for getting everything that _needed_ doing done before the whole flight fiasco.

The text from Adrien was welcome. _Landed in Paris. Getting off plane._

Unfortunately, his plane had not gotten ahead of their revised schedule. There still wasn't much time for him to get through the airport and Customs and then- what? Nathalie had told Adrien that he would have to find his own transportation home, since Mrs. Agreste had asked for Gerald to pick her up. Surely Adrien knew that a taxi would be faster than the bus.

She texted him, just to make sure. She didn't get a response.

Mrs. Agreste had texted her as she went through Customs, and Nathalie suddenly wished that she hadn't done _quite_ as good of a job of paving the way for Mrs. Agreste. Even a _small_ hold-up at Customs would have bought them some time, and they could use every minute that they could get.

She should have asked Gerald to take his time going to the airport so that Mrs. Agreste would have to wait a little before heading back to the house. Not _long_ , of course, but just a bit. Hopefully he could refrain from taking his shortcuts on the way back, because otherwise she would have to come up with some sort of excuse as to why Adrien wasn't home at all.

Nathalie watched the car's progress on her tablet. Mr. Agreste had insisted on having a GPS installed on it and linked to her tablet and it really hadn't come in handy _that_ much before. Now it just made her more and more worried.

They had left the airport fairly quickly, and were zipping along the highway. Nathalie groaned and tried to come up with an excuse.

Nothing came to mind. She texted Adrien again.

_Nathalie: Where are you? Your mom is on the road back._

_Nathalie: You have my permission to bribe the taxi driver to go above the speed limit._

No response. Nathalie checked the tablet again and was pleased to see that the GPS on the car had slowed considerably. A couple quick clicks confirmed that the car had run into some traffic that would slow their trip home considerably.

She would say that that would help, but no doubt Adrien was _also_ stuck in traffic. Speaking of which- why wasn't he _responding?_ Nathalie punched in his number and called, anxiously holding the phone up to her ear. It went straight to voicemail.

Seriously, what was that boy _doing?_

Nathalie paced across the floor, trying to think of an excuse. Maybe she could say that she had sent Adrien over to his girlfriend's house so that he wouldn't be driving her mad with nerves and he must have had his phone die and lost track of the time. He was meant to come back after Gerald headed out to pick her up, and she didn't want to leave the house in case something happened. She had assumed that Adrien would come back in time, naturally, but maybe she should drive over and check on Adrien and Mrs. Agreste could stay and freshen up a little first?

Except that would never work. Mrs. Agreste would _insist_ on coming along, freshening up be damned.

Nathalie paced and paced, resisting the urge to tug on her hair. The blinking red dot of the car inched steadily closer, and Adrien's phone remained stubbornly off.

Maybe it had died or something and Adrien was on his way. She had to hope for the best but prepare for the worst.

Back and forth. Check the tablet, check her phone. Again and again and again. Now the car was only a couple blocks away, and closing in fast.

Nathalie resisted the urge to chew on her nails. She _had_ to look put together and unflustered, or there was no way that Mrs. Agreste would buy _any_ excuse that she made.

Two blocks. One. The gates to the courtyard.

Nathalie wondered how suspicious it would look if she were to simply pass out from nerves on the steps.

And then Adrien's door _flew_ open and he shot out, a little wild-eyed but that didn't matter, he was _here_ and Mrs. Agreste wasn't going to kill her.

"Oh, thank _goodness_ ," Nathalie breathed, finally able to breathe for the first time in over an hour. Then her eyes flashed to Adrien's open door and her mind let out a flat _what_. "How did you get here before your mom? You've only just beat her! And why didn't you respond to my calls? You've made me mad with worry!"

 

* * *

 

Adrien winced under Nathalie's exasperated expression. He couldn't blame her for being upset, because he could hear the Gorilla's car as he pulled up to the front steps. His mom would come bursting in any second now, and if he had been much slower then she would come in. In the face of guardian disapproval, Adrien floundered. "Uhh..."

Thankfully, Marinette came to the rescue. "We called up the superheroes," she explained, making Nathalie startle slightly. Apparently she hadn't noticed Marinette bursting out after him, which- well, he couldn't blame her. Nathalie had been under a _lot_ of pressure. "We figured that that would be the only way we could get an edge. We contacted Alya, actually, and then she contacted the superheroes, all when we were still waiting to get off of the plane. They grabbed us and hauled us across town as soon as we had our luggage."

"They must have come in on your mom's flight," Nathalie said with a nod, and Adrien stiffened. He had forgotten that Nathalie would probably know about the superheroes' involvement in freeing his mom. She seemed to accept the excuse, though."And how did you get in?"

Adrien winced. "The lock on one of the bathroom windows is broken."

"And you didn't _tell_ me that before? I'll get that fixed straight away." Nathalie massaged her temples. "I need a vacation from you people. You stress me out."

Adrien resisted the urge to mutter that having a broken window latch was _perfect_ for him being able to sneak back in. Something told him that Nathalie might not appreciate that much, either.

"Oh, and by the way- I don't know if you two were dating before or not, but you are now," Nathalie added quickly as the sound of the car engine cut out. "And you just had your two-month anniversary. That's what I told your mom."

Adrien blinked, a little puzzled by that sudden instruction. "O...kay?"

There was the sound of footsteps flying up the front steps, and then the tall doors flew open. Mrs. Agreste bounded in and her eyes immediately fell on Adrien. She lit up. " _Adrien!_ "

Adrien couldn't resist anymore. He flew down the stairs, right into her open arms. " _Mom!_ "

His mom's arms wrapped around him, and for the first time in over a year, Adrien was able to sink into one of her _fabulous_ hugs. Her cheek pressed into the top of his head, and Adrien's eyes closed in happiness.

His mom was _home_ , and he didn't need to hold himself away from her anymore.

"Oh, my sweet boy," his mom was crooning, smoothing one hand over his hair. "Oh, my darling. I'm so sorry. I never meant to be away from you, sweetheart."

Adrien sniffed- and when had he teared up? _Why?_ He had known that she was safe and on her way home for a week and a half now, and he had seen her during all of that time- and buried his face in her shoulder. She pulled him closer and they stood there for several minutes. By the time Adrien was ready to pull away, he was aware of his mom gently rocking the two of them back and forth.

"I'm _home_ , Adrien," Mrs. Agreste told him, beaming at him. She looked a bit misty-eyed as well as she pulled him back into another hug. They pulled apart slightly, and then her eyes slid to his side and she lit up. "Oh! You must be Adrien's girlfriend! Nathalie told me about you!"

Marinette grinned, beaming up at Adrien. She reached up to wipe away the happy tears that had escaped from his eyes and he leaned into her touch, not at all embarrassed.

After all, Marinette had seen him at his worst, after his father had been arrested. She had hugged him close when he was terrified that the spell to free his mom might not work, and held him when he had wanted nothing more than to rush over to him mom and couldn't. She wasn't going to judge him for getting emotional during his official reunion with his mom.

"This is Marinette," Adrien confirmed, still a little choked up. He cleared his throat as Marinette wound her arm around his waist and beamed down at her. "She keeps me sane, really. I'm so lucky to have her."

"It's great to meet you!" Mrs. Agreste told Marinette at once. "I'm _so_ looking forward to hearing about all of Adrien's adventures while I was gone. And how you got together, and- _everything_ , really. Do you want to stay for dinner and catch me up on the past year? I want to hear all about it!"

Marinette glanced towards Adrien and he pulled her close, silently asking her to stay. He wanted to spend time with his mom, of course, but he couldn't help but keep Marinette close like a security blanket. She would help keep the conversation from petering out and stop him from saying anything he shouldn't. She gave him a slight nod, letting him know she understood, and then she turned her dazzling smile on his mom.

"Of course! I would love to."

"Come on, then! Let's go to the sitting room and hang out there until dinner, and you can tell me all about how you two got together!" Mrs. Agreste wrapped one arm around Adrien's shoulders, pulling him close to her side. Adrien leaned into her, so, _so_ glad to have her back. "Nathalie, can you tell the chef that I'm back and we have a guest? And I am _starving_."

Nathalie was smiling, too, relief clear on her face. "Of course, Mrs. Agreste."

"Okay, now- tell me _everything_ ," Mrs. Agreste told Adrien as they headed into the downstairs sitting room. She settled down right next to Adrien on their large couch, leaving Marinette to sit on Adrien's other side. All of her attention was focused on him, and _boy_ had he ever missed that. "Nathalie said that you've been going to school? And that you've made friends there? I can't wait to hear all about it!"

As Adrien grinned and started from the beginning, telling his mom about his first days of school, he couldn't help but be completely unable to regret anything that had happened in the last year. Sure, things weren't perfect- his father was still in jail, the future of the company was uncertain, he had no idea how much or little freedom he would have going forward, and Adrien knew that he would never be able to tell his mom about the Chat Noir part of his life- but they were _good_ , and for now, that was enough for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo-hoo! The end! (Though there are 5 outtake chapters I have yet to post (well. Four proper chapters and Plagg's Songbook. That....I don't know if I can actually count it as a chapter), so the story isn't completely over yet.)
> 
> The last two chapters of TNCIT were probably the first part of this story that I outlined, and a large part of the reason why I wrote TNCIT at all (because I wanted to share the absolutely frantic panicking). These people are all a mess and it's hilarious. (Also: yes, the closet thing was 100% a nod to one of my other fanfics lol)
> 
> And as always, reviews make my day! :)


End file.
